They're not. And I've run businesses in lots of different countries as well. Martin is on the ball when it comes to comparing Spain the US, but his contrasts between the European and the American market from the entrepreneurs point of view are way off the mark.
He should have simply titled his post: "what it's like to be an entrepreneur in Spain" and there would have been no issue at all.
Btw, Varsavsky isn't an American, he's had quite a few business dealings in the UK and in Spain but as far as I know doesn't hold a stake in a company in any of the other EU countries that he's writing about and I really don't understand what it was that he was trying to achieve with his post.
If you don't believe me go visit Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Tampere, Paris, Stockholm, Bucharest, Warsaw or a hundred other places and compare those contrasts for yourself.
On the whole there are very few of Varsavsky's points that hold water, a summary between the US business climate and the EU one from an entrepreneurs pint of view could be made much shorter:
- in the EU it is a lot harder to be a dick to your employees
- in America you will (due to the larger and more homogeneous home market) likely have a much better chance grow fast
- in Europe you will have to think internationally from day 1
- in Europe it is less dog-eat-dog and more cooperative
Those are from my own personal experience.