4 ms·

I don't think the US and Europe can be generalized like this. I've never been to the US, but I can image that startups are a lot different in SV than in other c

by arthurk 18y ago

I don't think the US and Europe can be generalized like this. I've never been to the US, but I can image that startups are a lot different in SV than in other cities. Same goes for Europe. For example, when talking about the "startup culture and mentality" the author provides only one example: Italy. But cultures are very different across europe, you can't just compare Italy with Spain, Germany and other countries.

davidw 18y ago
Which is why 'the author' notes up front what his experiences are. Despite this, though, the author has traveled extensively throughout Europe, and while Oslo, Norway is certainly different from Braga, Portugal, the author feels that there is something of a common thread, even though the author realizes that the differences between, say, England, Portugal, and Slovakia are enormous, and far greater than, say, Vermont, Oregon and Texas. On this topic, everyone, myself...err, 'the author' included, agrees that Europe is quite diverse. That said, do you think there are some commonalities that are applicable to "Europe"? If so, what are they?
Prrometheus 18y ago
What part of Western Europe has a great pro-business, startup friendly environment, then?
- davidw 18y ago
  It's important to note the distinction between small businesses/startups and businesses. Everyone is "business friendly" when it comes to their Peugots, Fiats, Mercedes, GM's, Toyotas and so on. Where you really notice the difference is in small businesses.
- qw 18y ago
  It doesn't seem that taxes have much to do with innovation, because people will innovate no matter what country they live in. I agree that SV is a unique place that attracts talent, and it is probably easier to find investors there. But you also have to think about all the legal costs of doing business in the US. The risk of lawsuits and patent trolls are much greater than in Europe. The benefits of low tax is probably not as important for a startup as the legal bills that they may have to pay if they are unlucky enough to be noticed by an unfriendly lawyer I have read statistics that show that the number of lawyers per US citizen is many times greater than the number for most European countries. In Germany there are 593 people for each lawyer, while in the US there are only 265 people for each lawyer. Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_country_in_the_world_has_most_lawyers_per_capita http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_country_in_the_world_has_most...
  - davidw 18y ago
    I think taxes aren't quite as important as long as they're only applied to actual profit. What hurts in "Europe" (standard disclaimer) are all the fees, paperwork and associated crap to do before you even get something off the ground, and that you have to keep doing over the life of the company.
- akie 18y ago
  I would personally like to nominate The Netherlands: good universities, internationally oriented, business friendly.
  - delano 18y ago
    There is a lot of tech coming out of the Netherlands and we hear about it because their english is very good. There's a lot of tech inside Germany, France, Italy, etc obviously but most of it is in their mother tongue. Just a few links off the top of my head: http://phusion.nl/ http://phusion.nl/ (Passenger) http://gitx.frim.nl/ http://gitx.frim.nl/ http://www.quirksmode.org/ http://www.quirksmode.org/

by arthurk 18y ago

davidw 18y ago

Which is why 'the author' notes up front what his experiences are. Despite this, though, the author has traveled extensively throughout Europe, and while Oslo, Norway is certainly different from Braga, Portugal, the author feels that there is something of a common thread, even though the author realizes that the differences between, say, England, Portugal, and Slovakia are enormous, and far greater than, say, Vermont, Oregon and Texas. On this topic, everyone, myself...err, 'the author' included, agrees that Europe is quite diverse. That said, do you think there are some commonalities that are applicable to "Europe"? If so, what are they?

Prrometheus 18y ago

What part of Western Europe has a great pro-business, startup friendly environment, then?

davidw 18y ago
It's important to note the distinction between small businesses/startups and businesses. Everyone is "business friendly" when it comes to their Peugots, Fiats, Mercedes, GM's, Toyotas and so on. Where you really notice the difference is in small businesses.
qw 18y ago
It doesn't seem that taxes have much to do with innovation, because people will innovate no matter what country they live in. I agree that SV is a unique place that attracts talent, and it is probably easier to find investors there. But you also have to think about all the legal costs of doing business in the US. The risk of lawsuits and patent trolls are much greater than in Europe. The benefits of low tax is probably not as important for a startup as the legal bills that they may have to pay if they are unlucky enough to be noticed by an unfriendly lawyer I have read statistics that show that the number of lawyers per US citizen is many times greater than the number for most European countries. In Germany there are 593 people for each lawyer, while in the US there are only 265 people for each lawyer. Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_country_in_the_world_has_most_lawyers_per_capita http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_country_in_the_world_has_most...
- davidw 18y ago
  I think taxes aren't quite as important as long as they're only applied to actual profit. What hurts in "Europe" (standard disclaimer) are all the fees, paperwork and associated crap to do before you even get something off the ground, and that you have to keep doing over the life of the company.
akie 18y ago
I would personally like to nominate The Netherlands: good universities, internationally oriented, business friendly.
- delano 18y ago
  There is a lot of tech coming out of the Netherlands and we hear about it because their english is very good. There's a lot of tech inside Germany, France, Italy, etc obviously but most of it is in their mother tongue. Just a few links off the top of my head: http://phusion.nl/ http://phusion.nl/ (Passenger) http://gitx.frim.nl/ http://gitx.frim.nl/ http://www.quirksmode.org/ http://www.quirksmode.org/