

Ask HN: Startups in Europe - Brewer

What are startups like in Europe? Are they as common as they are here in the United States? Where is the Palo Alto of Europe? Please feel free to include other information one might find useful!
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JHLewisJr
Startups are getting more support in Europe. There are a number of good
accelerators: Techstars has affiliates in Europe. Startupbootcamp is creating
a network of Accelerators in Denmark, Ireland, Spain and others. Hackfwd is
mentioned in another post. I work with LeCamping.org in Paris.

European governments see that startups create jobs. France (believe it or not)
has a whole range of support services and cash for innovative startups.

It is still harder to form a company, open a bank account and get going. In
America it takes a credit card and an hour. In France and England it takes
more time and effort.

Another believe it or not - salaries for engineers are lower in France than
America. Education is great and there are a large number of people that want
to work for a startup.

There is no Palo Alto of Europe - Yet. Many locations are trying to win that
race. Overall there are many opportunities.

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neuromancer2600
I would say startups in Europe feel more like a sub-culture than an
appreciated part of the eco-system: they are common but the local media is not
picking them up as much as in the US.

To get you started, you could look at SeedCamp (<http://seedcamp.com>) or
TechCrunch's European site (<http://eu.techcrunch.com>).

Once you go through the articles and posts there, you might start to believe
that Berlin is the epicenter of attention right now. However, the culture to
embrace failure as well as the VC money aren't there (yet?).

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gspyrou
Check HackFwd <http://hackfwd.com/> .

