
The privilege to fail - e0
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/07/the-privilege-to-fail/
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matt4077
This is important. The prevailing narrative is still that, for example, a
social safety net stifles innovation.

If I actually spell it out, it's quite absurd: "Google and Facebook and Apple
only got started because our society threatens inactivity with starvation".

Any survey of founders' backgrounds will reveal that they almost exclusively
hail from the upper-middle class and higher, meaning that their family or
education provided them the security to take such risks, and to forgo a
regular income in the early days/months/years.

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sjg007
I agree with this statement. One question though is why do we not see more
innovation out of Sweden, France, Germany or England where they have said
safety nets (to one degree or another)? Also the US does have some safety nets
but it is difficult to forgo working and take benefits in order to start a
company.

~~~
CM30
I think there are multiple reasons for not seeing as much innovation out of
Europe. Based on my experiences in the UK...

1\. It's harder to get investment for a startup in Europe than it is in
America. Or I guess more precisely, it's harder to get investment outside of
Silicon Valley.

2\. If you do get investment, it'll be far lower in Europe than in America.
This puts you at a disadvantage in fields where marketing spend is
increasingly important (like social media sites/apps and ridesharing
businesses). I mean, people over here think the amount of money given on The
Apprentice or Dragon's Den is a reasonable investment for the next Google or
Facebook. That's closer to 10-50 grand than the couple of million some Silicon
Valley businesses raise.

3\. European investors and accelerators are very hesitant to invest in
consumer facing startups. Instead, they prefer giving money to companies who
sell services and products to businesses, like say Moz. When I asked a few of
them about a user facing social networking company (like Twitter or Facebook
or Medium) they said it would require more money than they'd be willing to
offer for a lesser chance at a return.

4\. Cultural differences. People are less encouraged to take risks over here,
with the 'default' being to take a standard job and work your way up to
management before retiring X years later with a spouse, 2.5 kids and a dog. If
I'd said I'd drop out of university to start up an internet company, people
would think I was crazy.

5\. The wages are lower, so the best candidates likely don't get involved in
startups here. This is at least in part because programming isn't much more
respected than retail or office work, at least from what I've seen in London.
So those with the interest in doing something big with their life either get
into a different field (like finance) or pack their bags and move to America.

6\. Finally, I think computer education being so bad for so many years may
have had an effect here. If you didn't go to university to study a technical
subject (or have an interest in it in your free time), then you likely only
know how to use Microsoft Office. A lot of people who'd otherwise be
interested in working in the tech industry likely don't think it's interesting
work, or (based on their schooling) imagine it's basically Microsoft tech
support.

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ThrowawayR2
> _5\. The wages are lower, so the best candidates likely don 't get involved
> in startups here._

Ironically, this can be in part attributed to the cost of having a strong
social safety net, at least in my opinion. I'd love to be persuaded otherwise.

~~~
kesselvon
Doubtful. There are plenty of high wage occupations in Europe, but computer
programming is not one of them. Just like the market for doctors in the US is
insane compared to elsewhere in the world.

