Sweden has failed to build almost any new big company since the last 100 years. Just look at OMX30 (30 most traded companies at Stockholm stock exchange). Almost all of them are companies older than 100 years.

Simplified, many great old successes (old money, i.e the billionaires) and many new promising, but few in-between.

Sweden does not have the highest billionaires per capita. Hong Kong, Monaco, Switzerland all have higher rates for example. There are several additional places as well.

Is Borland actually a European company? It looks like it was started in California and has a headquarters in Texas. It is now owned by a company in the UK, but it doesnt really seem European to me.

From the wikipedia article:

> Borland Ltd. was founded in August 1981 by three Danish citizens, Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, and Mogens Glad, to develop [...] However, response to the company's products at the CP/M-82 show in San Francisco showed that a U.S. company would be needed to reach the American market. They met Philippe Kahn, who had just moved to Silicon Valley...

So yes, Borland is a US company, but founded by 3 Danish folks. That might indicate that Europe doesn't lack innovation or talent, but a large unified market with high purchasing power.

Well in 1981 if you wanted to sell stuff for personal computers you would have to be in the Valley. No question about it.

I'd say it would have been hard to sell anything that specific even elsewhere in the US at the time.

You could have been in NY near NYC too. But yes, at the time, you were either in the valley or by NYC if you were starting a personal computer related business.