It’s probably the people who didn’t start a business in the EU that you want to talk to. Like, I’m European, but I started my company in the US because everything is so much easier here.
Secondly, what's easier besides VC funding? If it's VC funding, the disparity there has nothing to do with regulations - guess how much VC funding the non-EU rest of the world gets.
It’s a distant memory to me now, I’m building a company and so much has happened that the details of this decision have faded away. But, between the AI act and GDPR, there’s a set of potential traps laid out for you to step into, along with reams of paperwork. All that requires lawyers and compliance consultants to help you figure it out, and that’s way too much for a fledgling startup.
I think it said it all that the AI regulations were written before there was really anyone to regulate. Why would I want to pour my heart and soul into a system that’s geared to find ways to stop me from building?
Anyway, it’s no longer relevant to me: I’m gone and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
I don't want to exchange my freedoms for your shareholder value, thank you.
Yet startups here have managed to compete with US bigtech incomparably better than the EU. Shows that tough privacy laws have nothing to do with it.
> All that requires lawyers and compliance consultants to help you figure it out, and that’s way too much for a fledgling startup.
It also really just doesn't unless you're doing really shady stuff, in which case, good. The huge majority of startups don't need a lawyer to deal with GDPR.
Which part is easier? That you have 50 different states with slightly varying laws to consider (e.g. Californian Data protection)? That you have a byzantine system of "benefits" to choose and manage?
And compared to where? Germany or Estonia or Sweden or Spain? The complexities will vary wildly depending on the country (kind of like in the US, where lots of companies pick the state to base themselves in based on the combination of favourable laws and precedents and taxes).
there are certain sentences you can just tell would never be written by an American lol
California Consumer Privacy Act is a thing you need to take into account for Californian customers.
Illinois has a Biometric Privacy Act.
And who knows what Wyoming or South Dakota or Oregon have that you might take into account if your business falls under any of them.
most laws like CCPA also have some threshold where you already need to be pretty successful for it to apply to you.
for some select industries (biometrics & healthcare), yes you have a patchwork of laws.
Because they are plenty of companies just ignoring regulation and simply paying the fines, as the enforcement often a joke.
TBH, in this respect it's much the same in the EU.