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I think the biggest issue with Sweden is attracting talent. Some issues: Payouts for top talent are not great. Compared to US, you rarely get stock based comp

I think the biggest issue with Sweden is attracting talent. Some issues: Payouts for top talent are not great. Compared to US, you rarely get stock based comp or salaries higher than $80k/y and even then most of it goes to taxes. That is not unique with Sweden though, it's EU in general. Second. The weather is not for everyone. IMO that puts a cap in the potential growth as only the top companies can attract and pay the talent (Spotify Klarna, iZettle etc.).

alkonaut 5y ago
The weather is definitely not for everyone. For the whole package to be attractive I think you need to weigh in the whole package with long holidays, parental leave, walkable cities, good work-life balance, cheap childcare and so on. It’s definitely not the place to go to work 3 years then buy a sports car. It’s a good place to go if you feel ready to switch a pay cut for a different style of life if you just had a couple of young kids perhaps.
- zibzab 5y ago
  > walkable cities I know this is not what you meant, but I have a story about city walks for you: Got lost and had to walk alone in downtown DC one late night. Made me decide to not take that job in NY and move back to Europe.
  - ciabattabread 5y ago
    So if you had gotten lost in actual NY, say, in Greenwich Village or another tourist-friendly rich neighborhood, you would’ve stayed?
    - zibzab 5y ago
      Well, you don't always get to choose the area you get lost in :) Source: got lost in another country a month later. In a city with the highest homicide rate in the world.
- arthur_sav 5y ago
  Exactly my point. This lifestyle suits a chill family life, not "Let's freaking build the next facebook and code 24/7".
hogFeast 5y ago
I interviewed at somewhere that iZettle acqui-hired...salary terrible, no benefits, next-level bad interview process (they had someone from HR doing technical interviews, I asked why, the HR person actually said they didn't know). Almost every other local tech company, admittedly not a backwater, paid higher. In my experience, generally, there isn't a straight read from "company you have heard about" to "has any clue what they are doing".

alkonaut 5y ago

The weather is definitely not for everyone. For the whole package to be attractive I think you need to weigh in the whole package with long holidays, parental leave, walkable cities, good work-life balance, cheap childcare and so on. It’s definitely not the place to go to work 3 years then buy a sports car. It’s a good place to go if you feel ready to switch a pay cut for a different style of life if you just had a couple of young kids perhaps.

zibzab 5y ago
> walkable cities I know this is not what you meant, but I have a story about city walks for you: Got lost and had to walk alone in downtown DC one late night. Made me decide to not take that job in NY and move back to Europe.
- ciabattabread 5y ago
  So if you had gotten lost in actual NY, say, in Greenwich Village or another tourist-friendly rich neighborhood, you would’ve stayed?
  - zibzab 5y ago
    Well, you don't always get to choose the area you get lost in :) Source: got lost in another country a month later. In a city with the highest homicide rate in the world.
arthur_sav 5y ago
Exactly my point. This lifestyle suits a chill family life, not "Let's freaking build the next facebook and code 24/7".

hogFeast 5y ago

I interviewed at somewhere that iZettle acqui-hired...salary terrible, no benefits, next-level bad interview process (they had someone from HR doing technical interviews, I asked why, the HR person actually said they didn't know). Almost every other local tech company, admittedly not a backwater, paid higher. In my experience, generally, there isn't a straight read from "company you have heard about" to "has any clue what they are doing".