> In the time a German start-up with identical funding is working on grinding its way through 40 different countries in Europe (most with 1/4 to 1/2 the spending power of consumers in the US) to match the economics of the US market, the US peer already owns the US market, and is assaulting the global market from its position of strength

I don't get this - why everyone assumes that European (say German) startup will start with a painstaking conqest of the European market and only then move to the US? It seems to make much more sense to choose US as your second country, over say France or UK.