> As a German who's been exclusively working in the US tech space for the past few years,

As a new immigrant your are still in the euphoria phase of your new live...

> but the reality is that any European who truly grasps the pace of the US tech industry would rather go there directly..

Well, as a naturalized citizen with a PhD from the US and experience in technology I can assure you, that this is not the case for everybody. Neither me, nor my business partner with the same background - we both work now in China.