4 ms·

I don't buy that argument. Sure, German isn't the easiest language, and most Germans aren't willing to use a English-only service. Still, there's enough transl

by mhd 15y ago

I don't buy that argument. Sure, German isn't the easiest language, and most Germans aren't willing to use a English-only service. Still, there's enough translators and copywriters available, never mind that anything big enough will probably have a local support team anyway. And the market seems big enough to justify that investment. If that argument would fly, is France any better off? About 4 times as many high school students learning it, roughly comparable market… And I'd need to see actual evidence for the "attention to detail" argument. Germans are prone to be portrayed as perfectionists, now apparently for consumption, too. Little of that is true (well, at least more true than for Americans). After all, Germans are buying MS Windows, too… So in my opinion, the added localization effort and the fictitious "cultural divide" aren't the true reasons for the copycats gaining ground. It's mostly a lack of focus on foreign markets in the first place. The US is a huge market, and by the time most companies try to expand their horizon in a serious manner, a ripoff has its chance and will make some money. Still, their staying power is pretty limited, especially if the original has a certain "brand". I remember everyon inviting me to "StudiVZ", the blatant Facebook clone. Nowadays I'm not even sure if that's still around…

NiklasR 15y ago
The article was intentionally simplified and while I think you raise valid points it is interesting how few US firms have actually entered the market. If they did, it usually took quite a long time or happened through an acquisition, which incentivises start-ups to use existing concepts. I think US firms should enter Germany earlier and leverage the talent that is already available. At the same time I would like to see more investors seed-fund German entrepreneurs to foster true innovation (after all for example mp3 comes from Germany).
- mhd 15y ago
  Don't most of the big companies have German offerings? It's mostly the startups in their initial stages that don't move abroad (at all, not just Germany). And a lot of that is due to legal and financial issues. We probably need a few startups in the internationalization sector to alleviate that. I don't see anything specific against moving business into Germany, it's just that right now Germany has some pretty bad copycats, which makes this an issue. Following the blog post, I'd expect to see companies moving to Spain or France before Germany, and I didn't really notice this as a pattern. It's not moving out of the US at all that's the problem (any Canadians want to chime in?). And yes, a more lively startup community in Germany (and Europe in general) would be great.

by mhd 15y ago

NiklasR 15y ago

The article was intentionally simplified and while I think you raise valid points it is interesting how few US firms have actually entered the market. If they did, it usually took quite a long time or happened through an acquisition, which incentivises start-ups to use existing concepts. I think US firms should enter Germany earlier and leverage the talent that is already available. At the same time I would like to see more investors seed-fund German entrepreneurs to foster true innovation (after all for example mp3 comes from Germany).

mhd 15y ago
Don't most of the big companies have German offerings? It's mostly the startups in their initial stages that don't move abroad (at all, not just Germany). And a lot of that is due to legal and financial issues. We probably need a few startups in the internationalization sector to alleviate that. I don't see anything specific against moving business into Germany, it's just that right now Germany has some pretty bad copycats, which makes this an issue. Following the blog post, I'd expect to see companies moving to Spain or France before Germany, and I didn't really notice this as a pattern. It's not moving out of the US at all that's the problem (any Canadians want to chime in?). And yes, a more lively startup community in Germany (and Europe in general) would be great.