At least in Croatia, I would say people are still figuring out how to do the startup thing. Certain incentives and incubators have appeared in the past few year

At least in Croatia, I would say people are still figuring out how to do the startup thing. Certain incentives and incubators have appeared in the past few years, the country has shown some interest with improving regulation and some people are trying it out. The biggest thing I would say is the culture where I would say people are very risk averse so they do not want to jump into debt for some crazy idea so they cannot afford paying people. Most startups I know in Croatia are started by friends where no one is getting payed and then later there's a squabble when it turns out the friend who started the company now owns it while the others are just employees. Other startups hire lots of college interns for 5€ net an hour and waste time with them learning how to code instead of paying actual professionals. I would say the scene is improving and each year there are 2x as many startups doing recruiting but it's all still in its infancy.