Comments on: Europe, the other Silicon Valley…

By: Laurent Haug’s blog » Blog Archive » Openness is difficult to scale

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:47:31 +0000

[...] of the sender – in order not to give what I got when I was starting my projects: ignorance at best (one of the thing I believe needs to change in Europe), irony and disdain at [...]

By: Laurent Haug’s blog » Blog Archive » The problem with European entrepreneurship? Lack of cruelty

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:03:44 +0000

[...] problem with European entrepreneurship? Lack of cruelty I have been a long time advocate of European entrepreneurship. But spending twenty weeks in dynamic Asia in the past year taught me a few things, among them the [...]

By: Laurent Haug’s blog » Blog Archive » SeedCamp

Laurent Haug’s blog » Blog Archive » SeedCamp — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:09:58 +0000

[...] belief that Europe has all the tools to shine on the international scene (see my 2006 post titled Europe, the other Silicon Valley). I will be in london participating as a mentor on the Tuesday, Sept. 16th sessions. See you [...]

By: Dannie Jost

Dannie Jost — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:21:26 +0000

indeed! this is not a thing about america vs. europe, but the europeans have all that it takes to make their economy sustainable, and it is not by copying what others have done that it will happen.

europe is a great and diverse place to live, and the nature of business and enterpreneurship is evolving from capitalistic ideology to something that includes values and ethics. business is about people anyhow, not about money. still money is an essential resource in our society, so it is also part of the equation, but it is not the equation.

By: Dannie Jost

Dannie Jost — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:21:26 +0000

indeed! this is not a thing about america vs. europe, but the europeans have all that it takes to make their economy sustainable, and it is not by copying what others have done that it will happen.

By: Laurent

Laurent — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 09:42:42 +0000

Of course it’s not much, but as Jason Fried says you should always “celebrate small victories”… My point was that 4 swiss companies in the global news is completely new.
Welcome back (what about a beer henry? where are you based? feel free to contact me!)

By: Laurent

Laurent — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 09:42:42 +0000

By: Henri

Henri — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 20:27:44 +0000

You point out below that four swiss startups have been in the global news. That is great, and these startups are indeed promising.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves either: There are probably as many startups from the silicon valley making the global news every week! [ bay area population size is similar to that of switzerland ]

So even if the local scene is improving, there is still a loooong way to go….

But such posts certainly help the morale of people like me who are back in CH after spendinga few years in the silicon valley ;)

By: Henri

Henri — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 20:27:44 +0000

By: Laurent

Laurent — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 21:24:03 +0000

I can’t really reflect on the US flexibility as I haven’t experienced it. But there are also a lot of legends about creating companies in Europe. I went through the process in Switzerland and it took me one week to setup my corporation. I thought it would take month, be complicated, etc… You simply hire an accountant, he fills the forms, you sign the papers in front of the notary and then you’re done. 7 days.

Admin REALLY got simpler, and if you put the right people around you it’s really no hassle.

I thought it would be a real pain, but the barrier was in my head, not in reality. That’s why I think it’s mostly a mentality/attitude thing. My observations is that most people who complain about the difficulty of creating a company actually NEVER went through the process themselves (I ain’t saying that for you Chris!)

And who needs to activate phone lines with mobile phones anyway ;-)