The richest tech entrepreneurs in Europe
whiteboardmag.com
whiteboardmag.com
I think a lot of the reasons can be found in that answer.
1. Bill Gates
2. Larry Ellison
3. Jeff Bezos
4. Sergey Brin
5. Larry Page
6. Steve Ballmer
7. Paul Allen
8. Michael Dell
9. Laurenne Powell Jobs (widow of Steve Jobs)
10. Mark Zuckerberg
If the definition of old is "younger than 20 years", this represents 3 startups (Amazon, Google, Facebook). If the definition is "younger than Skype", then only Facebook is left.
[1] http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400
[edit: formatting]
I was more interested if younger successful founders in the US faster take-over older founders. And they don't. A large part of the wealth of the older founders has been acquired past-IPO.
The conclusion (for me) is that to make it into the top 10 (whether US or Europe) and stay there, you gotta grow a company successfully for many years, like Microsoft, Oracle or Apple did in the US and SAP did in Europe.
Discounting the Samwers for obvious reasons.
We suck compared to the US[1] regardless of how you slice billionaires lists.
[1] https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/2...
I find it interesting they have a very entrepreneurial YAGNI and fake-it-till-you-make-it swagger. They really do a lot with very few resources.
Also, I'm not sure what Alan Turing has to do with Sinclair and Amstrad failing and Dell being successful. From what I understand of the early development of the computer, much more work was done in Boston, NY, and the Valley than in the UK.
But pg's point was specifically about how the Euro top ten was dominated by old companies and boring business models. My point is that aside from google, amazon and Facebook, the US top ten is not all that hip and fresh either.
That's a pretty big aside.
Maybe that's not fair, though, considering Virgin Galactic really did seem to help kick start the privatization of space, at least in terms of popular press coverage.
On another note - he is a really great guy and has zero ego for someone that is so smart.
It begins with the fact that at European universities, there's no real support for encouraging student entrepreneurship. In Sweden for example, they are making some headway with the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship and other inititiatives (side bar: here's a great lecture with Niklas Zennström, off Skype and Andreas Ehn, former CTO of Spotify - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R_E4GYfZK4)
There's a long way to go though!
Second is the cultural bias. If you are European (or have European friends) you will know that failure it treated quite differently in Europe vis-a-vis the USA.
In the USA, should you try a venture and fail, people say "well at least you tried!".
Or, you write about it in your grad school applications and get in. Then you have a fresh start.
Alternatively, you have a CV building experience. Often times, companies will look at your entrepreneurial zest favorably. Or, you can specifically apply to other startups who want people with startup experience.
Now, shall we compare that to the European experience?
European companies where you get the "evil eye" - at best you are looked upon with suspicion. At worst, you don't even get considered.
The other issue is that many private universities in the USA are funded by wealthy business alumni. So there remains a strong relationship between industry and academia. The least of this is endowment money making its way to top VC's.
The last point is about cultural bias towards profit-seeking. In the USA, many socially conscious entrepreneurs see business and profits as a way not only to get wealthy, but to make the world a better place - create jobs, fund nonprofits, etc. The unhealthy notion that still exists in Europe (business owners are greedy capitalists that need to be bled dry), just won't work.
The best engineers and business dev/sales talent in Europe still seek out working for established companies. There's no "peer push" towards starting your own company. The elusive job security (which is quickly fading) is what people seek out.
Real entrepreneurs see owning a business as the secure option. Job employment and placing your future in someone else's hands seems insanely risky to us.
Family and friends deride the European entrepreneur who has this same mentality. This can affect relationships with loved ones and the like. Hell, even getting a mortgage or other normal activities is harder as a entrepreneur in Europe.
Of course, there's probably some hidden opportunity in these challenges as well. If anyone can think of any, I'd be curious to hear them.