The thing is, in Europe, nobody takes web startups seriously yet. The web is still seen as something that neighbour kid does perfectly well. Why start a company based on that when some kid can do it for a fraction of the price and just as well?
In the Valley, I hear, the attitude is a lot different and if nothing else that means it's a lot easier to get traction.
Europe might not be as web-friendly but there has never been a better time for startups there. Think Seedcamp in the UK, startup bootcamp in Danemark, Hackfwd in Germany and many, many more.. There are loads of people in Europe taking startups very seriously.
At the end of the day, users don't care if you're based in Singapore, London or San Francisco. Also, you should be able to get an iPad not too long after anybody else in the US :)
If you already have all the pieces for partners, and your user base is dispersed, and you don't need capital for growth, then headquarter somewhere cheaper than the Valley (housing and office space can be half to a third the prices you pay here).
Just look at zappos.com. They moved away from the Valley, partly to be in a customer service hub in Las Vegas, and partly because is was just play cheaper.
Like for example, we're making an iPad app. Just because we're from Europe we were a few months behind people from The Valley simply by virtue of the iPad becoming available much later.
No matter how much we try to hide from this fact, the web happens in the valley and "far from the eyes, far from the heart" rings all too true.
Seedcamp had 10+ events this year with 20 selected startups presenting at each and hundreds applying to some of these. That's up to 1-2 thousand ambitious startups out there. Each of the countries, even the smallest ones like Slovenia and Estonia, have tens or hundreds of exciting teams.
Valley has huge pluses for growth. At the same time, it has cut throat competition for getting noticed or even getting meetings with investors.
Getting traction depends on product. In Valley you understand, how competitive it really is to get traction.
- a startup should stay in stealth mode longer in order to give it a bigger legs up on its possible competitors - silicon valley connection to VC money becomes less critical and the team makeup for execution becomes more important. This may mitigate some of the advantages of starting in the valley.
What do you think about the assertion above?