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Comment by maaaats | Hacker News Reader

> (...)and seeing the government working with the startup scene (...) is refreshing

I've always felt jealous on the US startup culture, where you get investments. In Norway, I feel it's more like you apply and get small grants. But looking at this article things have gotten better.

What concerns me the most about our startup scene, is the scale. A successful startup in Norway can only reach 5 million people before it has to be modified to fit a new country with different language, regulations and customs. In the US, you can reach tens of millions, and when the app has grown big enough us Norwegian will accommodate and get used to the app, not the other way around.

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> What concerns me the most about our startup scene, is the scale. A successful startup in Norway can only reach 5 million people before it has to be modified to fit a new country with different language, regulations and customs. In the US, you can reach tens of millions, and when the app has grown big enough us Norwegian will accommodate and get used to the app, not the other way around.

And that’s one of the biggest advantages the EU is supposed to bring, but which several countries are still blocking. You can read over 200 million people in the EU just with an English product, and if the single market was done better, it’d be very competitive with the US.

Instead, we’re seeing Britain leaving, and potentially the EU breaking apart completely.

> potentially the EU breaking apart completely.

You can see it like that, or you can see it the other way around. This is pretty much make-or-break, put-up-or-shut-up time for EU integration. The Lisbon treaty is finally biting. You can't be "mildly pro-EU" or see it as "simply a trade union" anymore; you either go all-in with fiscal and legislative harmonization, or you go home. Italy and Greece were the first to go all-in; Britain might be the first to go home. The next decade is a tipping point one way or another, and it might actually be the beginning of the "real" federal EU a lot of people have been asking for 40 years.

Greece and Italy didn't have much of a choice... they essentially were collapsing and lost a portion of their sovereignty to stay somewhat afloat.

Italy is one of the founding members of the EU, so I am a little puzzled by this statement.

I hope for the same – but I fear that a Brexit might go too smoothly, and inspire a Frexit, Swexit, etc.

Some people argue the other way around, and tell stories about e.g. American startups that never got around to supporting addresses in non-US formats. Companies in a small country have to face the world and can't stick their heads in the sand.

Just pretend that you are a US startup and target the US from the get-go. Happens all the time.

Spotify is one counter-example. Grow in a smaller market where you can do things that can't be done in larger markets (e.g., license streaming cheaply) - and then scale when you've proven the model.

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