> And yet you see a lot of Europeans and Canadians founders going to the valley for funding. Yet the opposite almost never happens.

Just because it is easier to found and grow a business doesn't mean the environment is friendly to founding and funding a high-growth business.

In fact, an environment that is friendlier to SMEs, lifestyle, and bootstrapped companies probably reduces the pressure to jump into a VC-funded high-growth swing-for-the-fences model. Combine that with a less generous funding climate, and those who do want to go that route will go somewhere else for their funding.

But I don't think the reverse applies in terms of attracting entrepreneurs that don't wish to go the high-growth route from elsewhere.