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As a European the title of the article pretty much sums up why there is no Silicon Valley here in Europe. Politicians and bureaucrats think they can somehow cre

by yc1010 12y ago

As a European the title of the article pretty much sums up why there is no Silicon Valley here in Europe. Politicians and bureaucrats think they can somehow create and run such an environment from "the top down", when what is needed is a culture change and more venture funds to dangle carrots for entrepreneurs. Here often you have to deal with state bodies for funding for startups populated by beuracrats and controlled/directed by politicians. p.s: the IT industry here in Ireland is basically a giant money laundering / tax avoidance operation for multinationals... definitely does not have the same spirit as Silicon Valley (or the weather for that matter)

rockdoe 12y ago
And the best way to introduce innovation "from the top down" for some reason always involves inventing more complicated legislation or benefits. Then somehow, large established companies turn out to be the ones who end up profiting because they have the legal/administrative staff to file out a few tons of paperwork. It's truly maddening. I worked for a European startup once, and one of the founders left to create a consultancy that did nothing else than to help other companies fill out the relevant forms.
- yc1010 12y ago
  I can relate, EU VAT would be a prime example of needless bureaucracy and paperwork. All that time wasted collecting, calculating, paper shuffling around in order to get VAT right, is time not spent on actually running your startup Yes one can pay accountants but that means increasing your costs and complicating your business from day 1 If they want more startups, they could for example exempt companies lets say with under half a million in turnover from having to waste so much time and energy on everything VAT related Instead of focusing on making a profitable product/service and then worrying about taxation, startups have to worry about taxes from day 1. Hell the EU are even now trying to get companies/people from outside the EU who do not live or work here be captured into the beuracratic pit via VAT MOSS
  - TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
    The idiotic VAT proposals were actually the fault of individual govs, not of the EU as a whole. The EU plan was to exempt small businesses. But for god-only-knows what reason - I'm not ruling out petulance because they'd be losing tax breaks - some of the member states vetoed this.
    - _delirium 12y ago
      Is who vetoed that proposal public information?
      - TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
        Not so far as I know. But considering that one of the main losers was Luxembourg - which is where many EU companies base themselves for the tax breaks - it's not unreasonable to wonder if that was one of the names on the list. Of course, the details should be public, and it's no one's credit that they're either hidden or hard to find.
SilasX 12y ago
In fairness, what you're describing sounds like the same hubris behind New York City's START-UP program: http://startup.ny.gov/ http://startup.ny.gov/

by yc1010 12y ago

rockdoe 12y ago

And the best way to introduce innovation "from the top down" for some reason always involves inventing more complicated legislation or benefits. Then somehow, large established companies turn out to be the ones who end up profiting because they have the legal/administrative staff to file out a few tons of paperwork. It's truly maddening. I worked for a European startup once, and one of the founders left to create a consultancy that did nothing else than to help other companies fill out the relevant forms.

yc1010 12y ago
I can relate, EU VAT would be a prime example of needless bureaucracy and paperwork. All that time wasted collecting, calculating, paper shuffling around in order to get VAT right, is time not spent on actually running your startup Yes one can pay accountants but that means increasing your costs and complicating your business from day 1 If they want more startups, they could for example exempt companies lets say with under half a million in turnover from having to waste so much time and energy on everything VAT related Instead of focusing on making a profitable product/service and then worrying about taxation, startups have to worry about taxes from day 1. Hell the EU are even now trying to get companies/people from outside the EU who do not live or work here be captured into the beuracratic pit via VAT MOSS
- TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
  The idiotic VAT proposals were actually the fault of individual govs, not of the EU as a whole. The EU plan was to exempt small businesses. But for god-only-knows what reason - I'm not ruling out petulance because they'd be losing tax breaks - some of the member states vetoed this.
  - _delirium 12y ago
    Is who vetoed that proposal public information?
    - TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
      Not so far as I know. But considering that one of the main losers was Luxembourg - which is where many EU companies base themselves for the tax breaks - it's not unreasonable to wonder if that was one of the names on the list. Of course, the details should be public, and it's no one's credit that they're either hidden or hard to find.

SilasX 12y ago

In fairness, what you're describing sounds like the same hubris behind New York City's START-UP program: http://startup.ny.gov/ http://startup.ny.gov/