Skip Silicon Valley: Why Smart Startups Start In Europe

Re:Skip Silicon Valley: Why Smart Startups Start In Europe by MetaCosm on Friday June 28, 2013 @11:29AM (#5958499)

"Slightly more risk adverse" is a vast understatement, and goes hand in hand with the culture problem. The near permanent branding of anyone who has failed in a business venture is horrifying from an American perspective. A lot of American business success stories had failed businesses in their past.

Beyond that, another major bullet point is:

* Ease of firing (inability to fire creates an inability to hire, you get trapped with terrible employees)

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Re:Skip Silicon Valley: Why Smart Startups Start In Europe by kintamanimatt on Friday June 28, 2013 @12:14PM (#5958752)

Couldn't agree more regarding the attitude towards failure! There's little acceptance of the idea that failure is a learning experience and multiple attempts are required to be successful. But, I think culturally it's improving, slowly. Tell someone you're an entrepreneur and working on a startup however, and it's a strange stifled reaction that's usually encountered.

Firing someone isn't as difficult as you'd imagine. There are a few more hoops, but at least in the UK it's not really all that difficult and it's not like you're permanently stuck with a bad employee. Plus, this is why trial periods exist!

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