
TechCrunch: Y Combinator's Unauthorized European Clone - reitzensteinm
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/25/y-combinators-european-clone/
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startupper
Europe will always be hindered by its inflexible and marginal immigration
policy. If you want to be the best you have to draw in people from all over
the world... India, Germany, Australia, Canada, etc. In my opinion that is
what America gets right and what Ycombinator benefits indirectly from. It will
be very difficult to reach the level of success that Ycombinator has and will
achieve without changes to the macro-mindset. If at all anything this whole
Yeurope thing will only increase the visibility of Ycombo in Europe and
encourage more hackers to move to the USA.

Having said that, good luck to you guys at Yeurope.

~~~
pg
I think the problem with Europe as a place for startups is not the government
regulations or the immigration policy. The sources of Europe's weakness are
the same as Iowa's: (a) lack of angel investors, (b) society as a whole
doesn't understand or support you if you start a startup.

Whereas in Silicon Valley starting a startup is considered an acceptable thing
to do (by your landlord, your girlfriends' parents, potential cofounders,
etc), and there are lots of investors ready to give you money if you show the
least promise.

~~~
startupper
I concur with you re: angel investors and societal support and an
understanding of what it takes to build a company around technology.

But I also think a society that is vibrant from a cultural perspective is
equally important -- you need a multicultural mix of art, science and liberal
thought to attract the fringe elements who _think_differently_ to your
environment. The multicultural aspect is necessary now more than ever
considering the global context in which technology is applicable. It is these
fringe elements who create startups. Both Stanford and San Francisco provide
that mix to the Bay area. You could say that Iowa lacks this, as does most of
the USA between NYC and SF.

In Canada for instance, there is the right cultural mix, but a lack of
intelligent capital. So I agree with you.

------
reitzensteinm
\-- We applaud the initiative. Perhaps a different and less confusingly-
similar name would have been a better choice.

I know this has been done to death in the other thread, but that's what annoys
me too... If they had come out right at the start and said, hey, Y Combinator
is doing a cool thing here, we love the idea, we are going to work at it and
try to offer the same opportunities to people in Europe but in our own way, it
could have been a really cool thing.

~~~
gibsonf1
Because of the blatant plagiarism combined with an actually desperately needed
program in Europe, YEurope is now managing to get increasing attention. What
is interesting is that not only are they getting a spotlight, but YC is
getting publicity too. Is this media savvy, or simply a way to save time by
copying?

I have to give YE credit for addressing the concerns of YC. Their site is no
longer the same color scheme as YC. They've added the following text to
various areas:

Front Page: " This site is inspired by, but not affiliated with YCombinator.",

FAQ: "Are you affiliated with YCombinator?

No, we're not. YC's program is quite revolutionary. We think of YC as akin to
something like the first University, and we hope to bring that concept to
Europe. "

FAQ: "Couldn't I just go to YCombinator?

If you have the opportunity to, you should! I'm sure it is a great experience.
Some of us don't want or can't move to YC, either because of Visa Issues, or
simply because they prefer to stay in Europe."

And they explain their name as "Why Europe" instead of YC's which is based on
"The ``Y-combinator'', which is sometimes also called fixpoint combinator, was
discovered by H. Curry. With its help it is possible to handle recursive
functions in the Lambda Calculus." A very nice derivation for Y C is available
at <http://www.ececs.uc.edu/~franco/C511/html/Scheme/ycomb.html> .

Should they change their name anyway? My answer would be only if YC asks them
to, which they haven't (at least not in the public threads to date) because
"Why Europe" as a name really makes sense as it is not the place people would
normally go to start a startup given the intense regulatory environment there.

~~~
danteembermage
they haven't (at least not in the public threads to date) because "Why Europe"
as a name really makes sense as it is not the place people would normally go
to start a startup given the intense regulatory environment there.

You got me laughing with that one, quite right. To be fair though, London is
becoming increasingly competitive with New York for IPOs in the wake of
Sarbanes-Oxley, so while you stand a greater chance of going to prison you
might have an easier exit if that's the goal.

