3 ms·

Best countries for startups

9 points by amrithk 18y ago

brk 18y ago
This is interesting, but I think it is missing some key points for technology startups (it seems to be more "new business" focused): 1) Availability of talent 2) Labor laws overall 3) Availability of ready market and spending power I may be biased, but IMO the US is the #1 place in the world for technology startups when you factor all these things in.
- noodle 18y ago
  i think you are biased, if you read a sufficient number of them you'll see that they do consider things like the available workforce and labor laws. the market thing is kind of dependent upon what type of startup you want to create, but if you're working on a web startup, it doesn't really matter where the company itself is located. the article is referring to startups in general, not necessarily tech startups.
  - davidw 18y ago
    What other kinds of startups are there? Biotech... Still "tech" though. What else? "Clean tech". Almost all of them are some kind of "tech", even though those might be quite far from the sorts of web things we talk about here for the most part. I guess you could talk about computer-based tech and "other". Or "new businesses" (like, a new restaurant), and that's certainly worthwhile, but not really "startups". Still, it's not a bad list. I wonder how much money you have to have to start a Danish company though. Places like Italy and Austria are nowhere near the cheap fees that exist in the US. Edit: Georgia?!? Might be ok in terms of regulations, but has a significant "being blown up by the Russians" risk factor.
    - noodle 18y ago
      all of the business definitions for "startup" i see don't restrict the definition to any specific field. just because we talk about tech startups here to the point where it is implied doesn't mean that CNN money also implies "tech startup" when they say "startup". http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=define%3A+startup&btnG=Search http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=define...
mojuba 18y ago
A curious fact: all English-speaking countries are in top 10. It would be interesting to speculate why.
- rglovejoy 18y ago
  Denmark is an English-speaking country? A lot of Danes speak English, to be sure, but their first language is still Danish.
  - fp 18y ago
    He said "All English-speaking countries are in top 10", not "All countries in the top 10 are english-speaking".
- jauco 18y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English... There are over 50 countries where english is the main language. So that's not really possible.
- run4yourlives 18y ago
  Because modern capitalism was an export of the British empire. Simple as that.
erictobia 18y ago
Any (non U.S.) folks with startups in the countries on this list? Is the article consistent with your experience?
- run4yourlives 18y ago
  Canada here and yes. I'm not sure what their definition of "Starting a business" is though, since technically in Canada all you need for that is a GST number, which you can apply for online for free and comes in the mail as soon as they can get it to you. You get a temporary number that you can use prior to that. Trade is about right though, especially from the US. Where this free trade that we're supposed to have is I have no idea.
  - davidw 18y ago
    > I'm not sure what their definition of "Starting a business" Starting some sort of limited liability company that is its own legal entity, is my guess.
    - tom_rath 18y ago
      And that's a breeze in Canada. Starting from a position of complete ignorance, I had everything finalized in a day and only had to leave my home to get a document notarized by a lawyer around the corner. Total out-of-pocket was around $200. If you are Canadian and want to start a business, you can find everything you need on starting (and running) a corporation here: http://www.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sc_mrksv/corpdir/corpFiling/register.cgi?lang=e http://www.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sc_mrksv/corpdir/corpFiling/regi...
      - run4yourlives 18y ago
        See, that's my issue. You started a corporation, which of course is a business, but a business in Canada is not always a corporation. A sole proprietorship is a perfectly valid legal entity, although without the limited liability aspect.
- 18y ago
axod 18y ago
"It only takes 24 hours to set up a business in New Zealand, the speediest start-up time in the world." How many companies do you need to setup???
- JoelSutherland 18y ago
  When talking with a friend who wanted to start an on-the-side business I was surprised by how concerned he was with the legalities (and how little with marketing). The value of speed is simplicity. Outside the hacker world, I think there are a lot of people that are simply too scared by even minor legal paperwork to see past it.
  - vaksel 18y ago
    yeah I think thats one of the biggest obstacles people need to overcome when deciding on it
- tom_rath 18y ago
  Only one, but if it takes a filing cabinet of paperwork, three bribes, a $20k processing fee and a four-month wait after personally visiting the application centre 200 miles away, you'll be unlikely to start that business. The time and resources required for incorporation are a good metric, but since the difference in the top-ten is only a matter of hours it looks trivial. In far too many nations, it's not.
  - CFS 18y ago
    That's is not true that NZ is the fastest. In Australia it is about 5 mins to get a 'business' and about 40 mins to complete tax registration. 1. You do not require ANYTHING to start a business in Australia 2. There are three main types of 'business structures' in Australia a) Sole Trader - NO PAPERWORK IS REQUIRED but most people register a name so they can get a bank account in their business name eg Fred's Flowers Time: 5 mins Cost: $142 About half of all businesses are sole traders. b)Proprietary Limited company Fred's Flowers Pty Ltd (similar to a US Inc) To create a Proprietary Limited requires at least 1 shareholder and 1 share and 1 director. Pty Ltd are legal entities that account for about half of all business in Australia. Time: 5 mins Cost: $400 3. Limited companies. Fred's Flowers Ltd These are large companies, often listed on the stock exchange. I own and control an unlisted public company but we will be listed in a few months. As much as I like our Kiwi cousins, it is not the 2nd best place to start a business in the world. The methodology is deeply flawed to the point of nonsense.
furiouslol 18y ago
You should base your startup where your market is. If your business is tech related, it would be best to do it in the US since they have the largest spending power for tech-related services. If you are a mining contractor, you should do it in Australia as they are rich in resources. Follow the market.
pchristensen 18y ago
Also 10 worst: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/smallbusiness/0809/gallery.20_worst_countries_for_smallbiz.smb/index.html http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/smallbusiness/0809/galle... Congrats to Venezuela for being the only non-African country to make the list!
cesther 18y ago
Don't rely on the CNN piece, they have paraphrased the bugger out of the original report. [ http://www.doingbusiness.org http://www.doingbusiness.org ] For instance there there significant differences between the US and NZ on labour issues, within the report US is rated 1, NZ - 14. Whereas CNN says: "As in the U.S. and Hong Kong, hiring and firing is relatively easy to do in New Zealand, with no mandated penalties, notice or severance payments for fired workers" If yr really keen to discover more: http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/ http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/

9 points by amrithk 18y ago

brk 18y ago

This is interesting, but I think it is missing some key points for technology startups (it seems to be more "new business" focused): 1) Availability of talent 2) Labor laws overall 3) Availability of ready market and spending power I may be biased, but IMO the US is the #1 place in the world for technology startups when you factor all these things in.

noodle 18y ago
i think you are biased, if you read a sufficient number of them you'll see that they do consider things like the available workforce and labor laws. the market thing is kind of dependent upon what type of startup you want to create, but if you're working on a web startup, it doesn't really matter where the company itself is located. the article is referring to startups in general, not necessarily tech startups.
- davidw 18y ago
  What other kinds of startups are there? Biotech... Still "tech" though. What else? "Clean tech". Almost all of them are some kind of "tech", even though those might be quite far from the sorts of web things we talk about here for the most part. I guess you could talk about computer-based tech and "other". Or "new businesses" (like, a new restaurant), and that's certainly worthwhile, but not really "startups". Still, it's not a bad list. I wonder how much money you have to have to start a Danish company though. Places like Italy and Austria are nowhere near the cheap fees that exist in the US. Edit: Georgia?!? Might be ok in terms of regulations, but has a significant "being blown up by the Russians" risk factor.
  - noodle 18y ago
    all of the business definitions for "startup" i see don't restrict the definition to any specific field. just because we talk about tech startups here to the point where it is implied doesn't mean that CNN money also implies "tech startup" when they say "startup". http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=define%3A+startup&btnG=Search http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=define...

mojuba 18y ago

A curious fact: all English-speaking countries are in top 10. It would be interesting to speculate why.

rglovejoy 18y ago
Denmark is an English-speaking country? A lot of Danes speak English, to be sure, but their first language is still Danish.
- fp 18y ago
  He said "All English-speaking countries are in top 10", not "All countries in the top 10 are english-speaking".
jauco 18y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English... There are over 50 countries where english is the main language. So that's not really possible.
run4yourlives 18y ago
Because modern capitalism was an export of the British empire. Simple as that.

erictobia 18y ago

Any (non U.S.) folks with startups in the countries on this list? Is the article consistent with your experience?

run4yourlives 18y ago
Canada here and yes. I'm not sure what their definition of "Starting a business" is though, since technically in Canada all you need for that is a GST number, which you can apply for online for free and comes in the mail as soon as they can get it to you. You get a temporary number that you can use prior to that. Trade is about right though, especially from the US. Where this free trade that we're supposed to have is I have no idea.
- davidw 18y ago
  > I'm not sure what their definition of "Starting a business" Starting some sort of limited liability company that is its own legal entity, is my guess.
  - tom_rath 18y ago
    And that's a breeze in Canada. Starting from a position of complete ignorance, I had everything finalized in a day and only had to leave my home to get a document notarized by a lawyer around the corner. Total out-of-pocket was around $200. If you are Canadian and want to start a business, you can find everything you need on starting (and running) a corporation here: http://www.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sc_mrksv/corpdir/corpFiling/register.cgi?lang=e http://www.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sc_mrksv/corpdir/corpFiling/regi...
    - run4yourlives 18y ago
      See, that's my issue. You started a corporation, which of course is a business, but a business in Canada is not always a corporation. A sole proprietorship is a perfectly valid legal entity, although without the limited liability aspect.
18y ago

axod 18y ago

"It only takes 24 hours to set up a business in New Zealand, the speediest start-up time in the world." How many companies do you need to setup???

JoelSutherland 18y ago
When talking with a friend who wanted to start an on-the-side business I was surprised by how concerned he was with the legalities (and how little with marketing). The value of speed is simplicity. Outside the hacker world, I think there are a lot of people that are simply too scared by even minor legal paperwork to see past it.
- vaksel 18y ago
  yeah I think thats one of the biggest obstacles people need to overcome when deciding on it
tom_rath 18y ago
Only one, but if it takes a filing cabinet of paperwork, three bribes, a $20k processing fee and a four-month wait after personally visiting the application centre 200 miles away, you'll be unlikely to start that business. The time and resources required for incorporation are a good metric, but since the difference in the top-ten is only a matter of hours it looks trivial. In far too many nations, it's not.
- CFS 18y ago
  That's is not true that NZ is the fastest. In Australia it is about 5 mins to get a 'business' and about 40 mins to complete tax registration. 1. You do not require ANYTHING to start a business in Australia 2. There are three main types of 'business structures' in Australia a) Sole Trader - NO PAPERWORK IS REQUIRED but most people register a name so they can get a bank account in their business name eg Fred's Flowers Time: 5 mins Cost: $142 About half of all businesses are sole traders. b)Proprietary Limited company Fred's Flowers Pty Ltd (similar to a US Inc) To create a Proprietary Limited requires at least 1 shareholder and 1 share and 1 director. Pty Ltd are legal entities that account for about half of all business in Australia. Time: 5 mins Cost: $400 3. Limited companies. Fred's Flowers Ltd These are large companies, often listed on the stock exchange. I own and control an unlisted public company but we will be listed in a few months. As much as I like our Kiwi cousins, it is not the 2nd best place to start a business in the world. The methodology is deeply flawed to the point of nonsense.

furiouslol 18y ago

You should base your startup where your market is. If your business is tech related, it would be best to do it in the US since they have the largest spending power for tech-related services. If you are a mining contractor, you should do it in Australia as they are rich in resources. Follow the market.

pchristensen 18y ago

Also 10 worst: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/smallbusiness/0809/gallery.20_worst_countries_for_smallbiz.smb/index.html http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/smallbusiness/0809/galle... Congrats to Venezuela for being the only non-African country to make the list!

cesther 18y ago

Don't rely on the CNN piece, they have paraphrased the bugger out of the original report. [ http://www.doingbusiness.org http://www.doingbusiness.org ] For instance there there significant differences between the US and NZ on labour issues, within the report US is rated 1, NZ - 14. Whereas CNN says: "As in the U.S. and Hong Kong, hiring and firing is relatively easy to do in New Zealand, with no mandated penalties, notice or severance payments for fired workers" If yr really keen to discover more: http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/ http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/