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> In reality, if you can’t afford it, you simply don’t hire more employees. That line of thinking would put pretty much every startup that's ever been through

> In reality, if you can’t afford it, you simply don’t hire more employees. That line of thinking would put pretty much every startup that's ever been through YC or shown up on HN out of business. This is yet another example of why, no matter how hard they try with things like tax incentives and other policies, when other countries make claims like "_____ is the new Silicon Valley of Europe", I know it really isn't. You can lament the price in some aspects of quality of life, but it's hard to argue with the results of US policies on entrepreneurism, particularly things like "at-will employment" in California.

Samuel_Michon 13y ago
“the results of US policies on entrepreneurism” In the US, it’s prohibitively expensive to become an entrepeneur. * Decent health insurance, if you get accepted, will be your biggest expense per month. There’s no government healthcare to speak of. * To start your business, you have to save up or build your product while being employed elsewhere (or freelancing) – the government sure isn’t going to help you out. * And then there’s all your student loans which you have to pay off, whereas in other countries you could’ve gotten it subsidized. There’s no equivalent to Silicon Valley in Europe, and I doubt there will be, but it’s not because of US policies on entrepeneurism.
- greghinch 13y ago
  > Decent health insurance, if you get accepted, will be your biggest expense per month. There’s no government healthcare to speak of. I've paid for my own insurance for years now. There was previously really very little in the way of you getting accepted, and now with new policies you have to be accepted. As a healthy male in my 20s and now early 30s, I got good coverage for $100-150 a month. > To start your business, you have to save up or build your product while being employed elsewhere (or freelancing) – the government sure isn’t going to help you out. I'm not aware of government programs that pay you to just come up with ideas in other countries, can you enlighten me on what you're referring to? > And then there’s all your student loans which you have to pay off, whereas in other countries you could’ve gotten it subsidized That certainly depends on your personal choices. If you went to a private, liberal arts school, then yes you probably have quite large loans. But if you were having to take out loans for college, you could also go to a state school in the state in which you have residence, and then your tuition fees are quite low. You still may have loans to deal with, but they are certainly not insurmountable (a few years of working would help you make quite a dent and give you some valuable experience which you could apply towards your future business ideas)
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    “As a healthy male” Which is why you got accepted and pay very little. Whether you have ‘good coverage’ is relative, I doubt it is as good as most European healthcare coverage. Also: if, G-d forbid, you get ill, insurance companies in the US can refuse to pay because of ‘pre-existing conditions’. “I'm not aware of government programs that pay you to just come up with ideas in other countries” Many countries have government programs that provide free training, business coaching, and a stipend to get your business up and running. “you could also go to a state school in the state in which you have residence” Which would still be more expensive than it costs most European students in their countries, and they probably get a better education. There are some good state schools like Berkeley, UCLA, Georgia Tech, and Penn State – but they don’t have space to place every student of their state, it’s only relevant for a few. Whereas in European countries, you can always find a state university to go to.
    - greghinch 13y ago
      1) If you're not a healthy young person, it's going to be quite a challenge to start a business anywhere. I'm not saying it's impossible (my parents started a new business a few years ago in their early 60s which is going quite well), but if you have some kind of pre-existing condition that would have in the past made getting healthcare a problem, I have to imagine you'd also have difficulty dedicating the time, energy, and drive it takes to start a business. 2) There are definitely similar programs for helping you get training to run your business and monetary incentives for new business owners here (mostly in the form of tax credits and the like). Admittedly, they aren't as well publicized as they could be. 3) The quantity of foreign students coming to the US for undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate studies (and then returning home to do good with those skills) probably makes the point about the quality of that education available here than I could. Not that higher education in other countries is poor, but that it is significantly better than that in the US is questionable at best. My main point is, the idea that the US is prohibitively expensive to be an entrepreneur is laughable. The sheer volume of new businesses started here every day proves that.
      - Samuel_Michon 13y ago

Samuel_Michon 13y ago

“the results of US policies on entrepreneurism” In the US, it’s prohibitively expensive to become an entrepeneur. * Decent health insurance, if you get accepted, will be your biggest expense per month. There’s no government healthcare to speak of. * To start your business, you have to save up or build your product while being employed elsewhere (or freelancing) – the government sure isn’t going to help you out. * And then there’s all your student loans which you have to pay off, whereas in other countries you could’ve gotten it subsidized. There’s no equivalent to Silicon Valley in Europe, and I doubt there will be, but it’s not because of US policies on entrepeneurism.

greghinch 13y ago
> Decent health insurance, if you get accepted, will be your biggest expense per month. There’s no government healthcare to speak of. I've paid for my own insurance for years now. There was previously really very little in the way of you getting accepted, and now with new policies you have to be accepted. As a healthy male in my 20s and now early 30s, I got good coverage for $100-150 a month. > To start your business, you have to save up or build your product while being employed elsewhere (or freelancing) – the government sure isn’t going to help you out. I'm not aware of government programs that pay you to just come up with ideas in other countries, can you enlighten me on what you're referring to? > And then there’s all your student loans which you have to pay off, whereas in other countries you could’ve gotten it subsidized That certainly depends on your personal choices. If you went to a private, liberal arts school, then yes you probably have quite large loans. But if you were having to take out loans for college, you could also go to a state school in the state in which you have residence, and then your tuition fees are quite low. You still may have loans to deal with, but they are certainly not insurmountable (a few years of working would help you make quite a dent and give you some valuable experience which you could apply towards your future business ideas)
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  “As a healthy male” Which is why you got accepted and pay very little. Whether you have ‘good coverage’ is relative, I doubt it is as good as most European healthcare coverage. Also: if, G-d forbid, you get ill, insurance companies in the US can refuse to pay because of ‘pre-existing conditions’. “I'm not aware of government programs that pay you to just come up with ideas in other countries” Many countries have government programs that provide free training, business coaching, and a stipend to get your business up and running. “you could also go to a state school in the state in which you have residence” Which would still be more expensive than it costs most European students in their countries, and they probably get a better education. There are some good state schools like Berkeley, UCLA, Georgia Tech, and Penn State – but they don’t have space to place every student of their state, it’s only relevant for a few. Whereas in European countries, you can always find a state university to go to.
  - greghinch 13y ago
    1) If you're not a healthy young person, it's going to be quite a challenge to start a business anywhere. I'm not saying it's impossible (my parents started a new business a few years ago in their early 60s which is going quite well), but if you have some kind of pre-existing condition that would have in the past made getting healthcare a problem, I have to imagine you'd also have difficulty dedicating the time, energy, and drive it takes to start a business. 2) There are definitely similar programs for helping you get training to run your business and monetary incentives for new business owners here (mostly in the form of tax credits and the like). Admittedly, they aren't as well publicized as they could be. 3) The quantity of foreign students coming to the US for undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate studies (and then returning home to do good with those skills) probably makes the point about the quality of that education available here than I could. Not that higher education in other countries is poor, but that it is significantly better than that in the US is questionable at best. My main point is, the idea that the US is prohibitively expensive to be an entrepreneur is laughable. The sheer volume of new businesses started here every day proves that.
    - Samuel_Michon 13y ago