South\Eastern Europe is now the place with the most growth, like an "up and comming" neighborhood, and you can get away with a lot more there.
Back home, most of my friends that have "starter" jobs, are actually doing it under the rug. Go to work, regurarly, get paid, but they don't officially result in the payroll of the company (to avoid all the obligations that come with it).
After a couple of years of work, once you gained some experience you move there, or somewhere else in a more stable status.
I am assuming a startup will probably be the same. First years it will all be under the rug. Remember, laws are made to be broken to a certain extent, but they also prevent large companies from treating employees just as a disposable thing, with no rights, no vacation, no health care, no paid maternity leave as you have in the US.
Sure some large companies do provide them, but some don't (ala Walmart), and this nation leaves it's citizen under the mercy of capitalism (which just wants you healthy enough to perform your duties).
Remember, Europeans work to live, Americans live to work.
My US company has those things. If it didn't, I'd find another company. Having lots of companies makes this feasible.
Sounds a lot like Italy, where the high price of doing business forces things underground, thus giving people no legal redress should they have problems. Yuck.
And yet, it usually isn't. (However, all Californians either live on the beach in LA or in San Francisco.)
The US has a chance of navigating out of the failing socialist systems. The cultural heritage of individual independence and government mistrust means it's possible. But Europeans exhibit nothing but obstinate rigidity, even with a more serious problem. It's a ticking fiscal time bomb.