Re:In search of a European Google
by dogma1138 on Sunday December 06, 2015 @08:26AM
(#10685200)
On the anecdotal side most accelerators I've been to in London were filled with non-UK and non-EU founders, the majority would be from the US, Asia and the Middle East, the European founders would often be from Eastern Europe where people are I guess much more accustomed to having to "fight" for it.
I also agree about the employment part from both sides (legal and employee mentality) with the exception of highly competitive fields (big 4, high end law firms) you would rarely find many employees willing to work for 12-14 hours a day when need be.
Even in the accelerators unless it was a "beer and talk night" the place would pretty much start to clear out around 5, and by 7 there would be no one there. Similar accelerators in Eastern Europe or the Baltic states (as well as out side of the EU) would be quite often still quite full till 11pm and even later.
Employment laws in many countries also make it very hard for startups to actually develop, the UK (and to some extend eastern Europe) probably has it's the easiest (which is why I think that and the combination of access to financial institution is why accelerators like London) as small businesses are still exempt from things like mandatory pension.
However hiring employees in other European countries may incur heavy financial costs which include pension, healthcare, allot of paid vacation and other benefits, that combined with the cost of actually managing all the HR related stuff and the fact that in some countries firing employees on a permanent contract requires you to involve a court makes it very unattractive for startups.
I also agree about the fact that many employees simply do not want that life style, but this has also been some what solidified by employers, as you won't find many if any at employers at all willing to pay a kings ransom for extraordinary talent most roles will have a salary range set to them and while it's possible for some one to make 10% more than their colleague or even in some very rare cases 15-20% (which will usually include other responsibilities) you wont find people making 50% not to mention double what their colleagues do simply based on their apparent talent or what they've demanded during hiring / what was offered at that time.
I also agree about the employment part from both sides (legal and employee mentality) with the exception of highly competitive fields (big 4, high end law firms) you would rarely find many employees willing to work for 12-14 hours a day when need be.
Even in the accelerators unless it was a "beer and talk night" the place would pretty much start to clear out around 5, and by 7 there would be no one there. Similar accelerators in Eastern Europe or the Baltic states (as well as out side of the EU) would be quite often still quite full till 11pm and even later.
Employment laws in many countries also make it very hard for startups to actually develop, the UK (and to some extend eastern Europe) probably has it's the easiest (which is why I think that and the combination of access to financial institution is why accelerators like London) as small businesses are still exempt from things like mandatory pension.
However hiring employees in other European countries may incur heavy financial costs which include pension, healthcare, allot of paid vacation and other benefits, that combined with the cost of actually managing all the HR related stuff and the fact that in some countries firing employees on a permanent contract requires you to involve a court makes it very unattractive for startups.
I also agree about the fact that many employees simply do not want that life style, but this has also been some what solidified by employers, as you won't find many if any at employers at all willing to pay a kings ransom for extraordinary talent most roles will have a salary range set to them and while it's possible for some one to make 10% more than their colleague or even in some very rare cases 15-20% (which will usually include other responsibilities) you wont find people making 50% not to mention double what their colleagues do simply based on their apparent talent or what they've demanded during hiring / what was offered at that time.