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I have mixed feelings here. On the one hand, from a market perspective I think, "Sure, why not. Just exploit the race condition that exists between The Next B
by wheels 18y ago
I have mixed feelings here. On the one hand, from a market perspective I think, "Sure, why not. Just exploit the race condition that exists between The Next Big Thing in the US and those startups recognizing the European market."
On the other hand, as someone that cares about the health of the European startup scene, it doesn't set a good precedent that successful European startups tend to far too often just be knock-offs of American companies, and in fact the cycle feeds itself -- it's such now that European investors often want to see a "proven model", meaning a knock-off, which makes it harder for European startups to find funding when doing something riskier.
- owkaye 18y agoIt's not all "America to Europe" you know ... there are startups in Europe that are innovating in ways the Americans haven't tried yet. Maybe not many of them, but my new business is based on one of them and it wasn't that hard to find. The European company mine is modeled after is not doing well because they've made a fatal flaw in their implementation that's preventing their growth, and it seems their management doesn't recognize this, but other than this simple issue their business concept is sound, and when they eventually recognize this issue I'm sure they will do well. But I'm American and I want to bring the same service to the USA so I'm proceeding with a slightly modified version -- one that will actually work well in the USA. I see nothing wrong with this whatsoever, it's a simple task of bringing a good service to places where the originator cannot or will not.
- wheels 18y agoIt's not that there aren't ideas coming from Europe to the US; it's rather that there's not a statistically significant number of American startups that are knock-offs of European ones. The converse isn't true. That there exist European copies of American companies doesn't bother me in the least; that they're probably half of the European startups does.