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Comment by Radle | Hacker News Reader

While it is true that a startup culture is very valuable in the IT-section, it's not that true that one needs a startup culture.

I am an engaged computer gamer and we Germans have many successful e-sport stars, E-Sports are not officially recognized in Germany.

Same goes for startups, I can list you 20 Industry leading Game startups and multiple hundred exceptional well doing tech startups in Germany.

Whatever people think about you does not matter as long as you have a great product to sell.

Also the author has a slight notion of american exceptionalism, that something works in the USA is by no means a measurement to go by and say: "Hey you should do this also, it will be working great!" Some detailed research about markets, employees, laws and how to adapt them would do every European government better than simply trying to copy America.

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Here's another data point supporting the claim that Europe's start-up ecosystem is weak:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/73-most-valuable-startups-ear...

This is a list of start-ups(in private control) with value over $1 billion. 73 companies in total , 6 are European , and 15 are Asian.

EDIT: one possibility is that European are suffering a similar problem to that of the Israelis - even though they have great tech/product , they just sell earlier. BTW in Israel(which most agree has a strong start-up ecosystem/culture) it's mainly because they're lacking in certain scaling skills(but they're learning) + and to some extent they try to minimize risk.

Meh, i will take a company that can do a low valuation but keep on going over a pump and dump VC darling any day.

Scaling requires specific know-how, lots of capital, and chutzpah. You seem to know more about Israeli startups than I, and I don't doubt that they're learning the first as you say, or that they already have the third.

As for capital for scaling European startups, it is definitely lacking. There's barely capital for seed and early rounds. Maybe in 50 years, after dozens of successful exits will make more people into angels and VCs.

What is "chutzpah"?

The issue in Israel is most startups choose to sell rather early. The same is true of the EU. I don't have a list but remember companies such as a Skype, Rockstar and others that were EU (are?). Many just get purchased. This may have more to do with capital finding food than just risk aversion alone.

I once looked at the companies google purchased and saw many German and Israel tech companies being acquired by google. This sounds plausible.

Still this kind of analysis is very weak for two reasons. Most countries aren't as company friendly as the USA. A discussion about whether Billionares should pay taxes would be unimaginable in most most European countries.

Also America has a strong customer base by default with 320 American citizens and the other 900 Million Nativ speakers, who can easily buy products made for the American market (Especially in the Tech area).

Also those kind of graphs usually get smaller, the higher you go.

One should compare the total amount of startups and divide by citizens, the findings will be a better tool for comparison.

whoops...

Those were 320 Million Americans and 900 Million englisch speakers, not native speakers.

Let's be honest here (I'm Dutch): In the Netherlands failing is looked down upon, investing in something as risky as a start-up is very uncommon and probably frowned upon, working for 40+ hours is okay but we highly value our spare time, there are lots and lots of rules and regulations if you want to hire and fire. All these things are part of our culture and need to be modified in our hearts and rulesets to have a better environment where startups can thrive as well as in the US.

This is just the bullshit self-loathing of Americanophiles.

"failing is looked down upon". In which f-ing corner of the country? How the hell do you think our tiny country has become so completely disproportionately successful? Because we don't take risks? Because we were to afraid to just set sail and see what happens? Bullshit.

We're the champions of fucking failing. We're the only big soccer nation never to win the World Cup, yet we celebrate our heroes for trying and failing.

Failing is not a bad or shameful thing in Dutch culture. This is just a meme that's being repeated inside a small bubble of people that worship American startup culture and use it as an excuse.

(Edit: the only slightly valid excuse is that bankruptcy in NL can be a bit of a pain in the ass.)

It may be something as simple as partners who don't tolerate someone without a "stable career". It's not that people look down on you but that subtle signals yell people to steer clear of "risky" career choices.

Maybe working for known companies hold cachet for young professionals and people looking for jobs look for that approval.

That's ironic given that your people (the Dutch) were the original European venture capitalists! In the 16th and 17th centuries, they put together and financed again and again (thus repeatable and scalable) overseas trading voyages.

I would hope that spirit left traces in your cultures.

I am German, while I believe that what you say is quite right. I would never give up on the worker protection in order to help start ups, there are other things that can be done.

You shouldn't need to remove the base your country is building on successfully, in order to support new ideas.

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