EDIT: please repost your question here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3303323 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3303323 I'll do the same with my answer

EDIT: please repost your question here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3303323 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3303323 I'll do the same with my answer :) Terrible payment gateways: AFAIK, based on many comments by the newest providers in the US, the biggest problem is exactly that of different regulations for different EU countries. Creating better options requires different solutions for each country, so it is very expensive. With a harmonized system, you would be able to create a solution for 500 million potential users - it would be worth the effort. Unfriendly legislation: The EU parliament can force national legislations to become friendlier, and especially to make it easier for a startup to operate in the whole EU. Tax legislation: I'm not thinking about revenues taxation, but registration fees and mechanism and controls and the likes. There could be interventions from the EU Parliament to harmonize them, I think, and if that's impossible now - we could at least start to lobby to make it possible.