7 ms·

European startups: How not to raise capital in the US

stroboskop 13y ago
> If you’re a European and work in tech in San Francisco, every summer you’ll be inundated with dozens of emails from friends, contacts and unknown European entrepreneurs who will ask you for advice and introductions to US investors for their classic VC fundraising trip. Possibly due to a biased sample, the post exaggerates the attractiveness of the US for skilled Europeans founders.
- danmaz74 13y ago
  On the contrary, it looks to me like the post describes the US as a very bad bet (and so not very attractive) for skilled European founders looking for investors.
georgespencer 13y ago
I run a venture-funded European startup. Raising in the US didn't cross my mind at any stage of our Series A. European money is just as good as US money. This post applies to the 5% of dross European startups who think the grass is greener in San Francisco.
noloqy 13y ago
Haha I barely started reading the article and I already trip over this sentence in one of the first paragraphs: "I believe I now have a statistically significant pool of data and experiences to analyze". Clearly somebody misunderstood something. Perhaps it is time we stop using terms we don't understand.
mansigandhi 13y ago
I think holds for founders from all countries outside of the US.
dbrian 13y ago
> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT. > You probably didn't work in a major successful US startup. > You probably don’t have many mutual connections with the investor. That would seem to apply to most people in the US as well.
xSwag 13y ago
Any statistics on what % of successful YC candidates that went to Ivy League schools? I'm going to assume there is a bias that people who go to prestigious Ivy are more likely to apply to prestigious programs like YC so probably a high percentage.
friendly_chap 13y ago
> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT Ahh right, we must be all dumbasses then. One day I was watching a presentation about programming languages. I thought it was for high schoolers, although the teacher seemed to be exceedingly good, he was talking in a style which assumed approx the same amount of IT knowledge my non-programmer high school 3rd grader little brother has. It was a Stanford class.
- danmaz74 13y ago
  If the OP is right in implying that US venture capitalists value very much coming from an Ivy League education, then it's the VCs you should be angry with, not him... On the other hand, I can guess that being an Ivy Leaguer has a positive correlation with having good connections - independently from the quality of an education there.
  - rhizome 13y ago
    Some say the connections are the main benefit of going to an Ivy, much like participating in the Greek system, getting an MBA, etc.
    - danmaz74 13y ago
      The Internet offers great opportunities to create connections without the need of a physical presence. There lies a great opportunity to disrupt a system that isn't very efficient at all.
      - rhizome 13y ago
        I didn't mean to imply that it was the only way to to create connections, just those of a certain type (and among a membership of certain power structures). The Internet is indeed creating alternative methods of networking and business relationships, but it remains to be seen whether the opportunity gathers enough power to disrupt to an appreciable (historically significant, to me) amount. A bunch of Yale and CMU people at the tops of Internet companies isn't much of a change, after all.
Archio 13y ago
> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT. Queue out X% of startup people in the United States. You know one common quality of great entrepreneurs? They're really good at getting into and paying for elite colleges with sub-10% acceptance rates. In fact, why doesn't everyone who hasn't gone to Stanford or MIT just smack themselves in the head, abandon their startups, and apply for low-level janitorial positions. Clearly they weren't born intelligent and able to start a startup, otherwise they would have gone to Stanford and MIT where all smart startup people are able to go when they turn 18.
hugofirth 13y ago
> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT Oh dear ... I understand that this was the author's honest appraisal of the thought processes of potential investors within the SF bay area community. I also understand that it is probably a true reflection of investor attitude. Lastly I understand that the sentiment behind it is total cp - with about as much foundation in the truth as a bouncy castle has in rock and mortar. Whether merely perceived or actual, the astonishing arrogance of some Americans is hurting their image.

> If you’re a European and work in tech in San Francisco, every summer you’ll be inundated with dozens of emails from friends, contacts and unknown European entrepreneurs who will ask you for advice and introductions to US investors for their classic VC fundraising trip. Possibly due to a biased sample, the post exaggerates the attractiveness of the US for skilled Europeans founders.

danmaz74 13y ago
On the contrary, it looks to me like the post describes the US as a very bad bet (and so not very attractive) for skilled European founders looking for investors.

georgespencer 13y ago

I run a venture-funded European startup. Raising in the US didn't cross my mind at any stage of our Series A. European money is just as good as US money. This post applies to the 5% of dross European startups who think the grass is greener in San Francisco.

noloqy 13y ago

Haha I barely started reading the article and I already trip over this sentence in one of the first paragraphs: "I believe I now have a statistically significant pool of data and experiences to analyze". Clearly somebody misunderstood something. Perhaps it is time we stop using terms we don't understand.

mansigandhi 13y ago

I think holds for founders from all countries outside of the US.

dbrian 13y ago

> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT. > You probably didn't work in a major successful US startup. > You probably don’t have many mutual connections with the investor. That would seem to apply to most people in the US as well.

xSwag 13y ago

Any statistics on what % of successful YC candidates that went to Ivy League schools? I'm going to assume there is a bias that people who go to prestigious Ivy are more likely to apply to prestigious programs like YC so probably a high percentage.

friendly_chap 13y ago

> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT Ahh right, we must be all dumbasses then. One day I was watching a presentation about programming languages. I thought it was for high schoolers, although the teacher seemed to be exceedingly good, he was talking in a style which assumed approx the same amount of IT knowledge my non-programmer high school 3rd grader little brother has. It was a Stanford class.

danmaz74 13y ago
If the OP is right in implying that US venture capitalists value very much coming from an Ivy League education, then it's the VCs you should be angry with, not him... On the other hand, I can guess that being an Ivy Leaguer has a positive correlation with having good connections - independently from the quality of an education there.
- rhizome 13y ago
  Some say the connections are the main benefit of going to an Ivy, much like participating in the Greek system, getting an MBA, etc.
  - danmaz74 13y ago
    The Internet offers great opportunities to create connections without the need of a physical presence. There lies a great opportunity to disrupt a system that isn't very efficient at all.
    - rhizome 13y ago
      I didn't mean to imply that it was the only way to to create connections, just those of a certain type (and among a membership of certain power structures). The Internet is indeed creating alternative methods of networking and business relationships, but it remains to be seen whether the opportunity gathers enough power to disrupt to an appreciable (historically significant, to me) amount. A bunch of Yale and CMU people at the tops of Internet companies isn't much of a change, after all.

Archio 13y ago

> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT. Queue out X% of startup people in the United States. You know one common quality of great entrepreneurs? They're really good at getting into and paying for elite colleges with sub-10% acceptance rates. In fact, why doesn't everyone who hasn't gone to Stanford or MIT just smack themselves in the head, abandon their startups, and apply for low-level janitorial positions. Clearly they weren't born intelligent and able to start a startup, otherwise they would have gone to Stanford and MIT where all smart startup people are able to go when they turn 18.

hugofirth 13y ago

> You probably haven’t gone to Stanford and MIT Oh dear ... I understand that this was the author's honest appraisal of the thought processes of potential investors within the SF bay area community. I also understand that it is probably a true reflection of investor attitude. Lastly I understand that the sentiment behind it is total cp - with about as much foundation in the truth as a bouncy castle has in rock and mortar. Whether merely perceived or actual, the astonishing arrogance of some Americans is hurting their image.