4 ms·

I think it's notable that none of the "winners" are European tech startups. They're all from the US. One could argue that because the US focuses on innovation a

I think it's notable that none of the "winners" are European tech startups. They're all from the US. One could argue that because the US focuses on innovation and Europe seems to be focusing on legislation that the latter will always be chasing the former. If instead of making it more difficult to build technology products, Europe focused on making it easier maybe the would be able to provide some much needed competition to the US tech scene. They seem more determined to tear down value than create it though. In the end, it will be their own citizens suffering though lack of tech jobs available in their market (c.f. the going rate for a full time engineer in the US vs Europe), lack of innovative tech that caters to local needs and ultimately lack of tax revenue from local companies.

norswap 7y ago
Yes, of course that is the only criteria at play. This tweet is entirely correct. There is absoluuuutely no way there are other issues to be considered. Nope!
- malvosenior 7y ago
  Of course there are multiple issues at play, this is one of them. Are you proposing that the extra layers of legislation around technology companies don't hamper innovation?
  - norswap 7y ago
    (1) The parent definitely implies that this is the main differentiator between US and EU. (2) I don't think (meaning, I haven't heard except in the vaguest of terms) that there is that much "extra layers of legislation around tech". GDPR comes to mind — and honestly it's not that much of a bother, it just mandates things that companies should already be doing.
pergadad 7y ago
There's some first mover advantage and some country/language limitations that can bring up costs, but the main reason is actually the easy availability of cash in the US. Successful European companies, especially startups, are bought by US players. Think Skype or Minecraff: successful European startups bought by a US giant (Microsoft). More poignantly, the VC money allows companies to exist that really shouldn't, and they in turn crowd out smaller less-funded competitors that stem from other markets. Think Uber and Lyft - two giant unprofitable startups that exist because of VC investment to burn. Or Bird. Or .. Funny enough, that's the two strategies that US companies/gov complain the Chinese are doing. That said, there are a few big European players, such as on mobile games (king digital), network infrastructure (Nokia), etc. Just not as significant name brand value in the anglophone world.

norswap 7y ago

Yes, of course that is the only criteria at play. This tweet is entirely correct. There is absoluuuutely no way there are other issues to be considered. Nope!

malvosenior 7y ago
Of course there are multiple issues at play, this is one of them. Are you proposing that the extra layers of legislation around technology companies don't hamper innovation?
- norswap 7y ago
  (1) The parent definitely implies that this is the main differentiator between US and EU. (2) I don't think (meaning, I haven't heard except in the vaguest of terms) that there is that much "extra layers of legislation around tech". GDPR comes to mind — and honestly it's not that much of a bother, it just mandates things that companies should already be doing.

pergadad 7y ago

There's some first mover advantage and some country/language limitations that can bring up costs, but the main reason is actually the easy availability of cash in the US. Successful European companies, especially startups, are bought by US players. Think Skype or Minecraff: successful European startups bought by a US giant (Microsoft). More poignantly, the VC money allows companies to exist that really shouldn't, and they in turn crowd out smaller less-funded competitors that stem from other markets. Think Uber and Lyft - two giant unprofitable startups that exist because of VC investment to burn. Or Bird. Or .. Funny enough, that's the two strategies that US companies/gov complain the Chinese are doing. That said, there are a few big European players, such as on mobile games (king digital), network infrastructure (Nokia), etc. Just not as significant name brand value in the anglophone world.