
Ask HN: Where in European Union should I move to found a startup? - cosmorocket
I am a citizen of Russia, but for long time I had been working as an independent contractor for my overseas clients. Currently I am living on Cyprus with my family.
I&#x27;ve been thinking about starting my own business in IT industry or areas connected to tech since my freelance career start 7 years ago.
Now, in my early thirties, I have a feeling that I must make next step by stretching my knowledge as I want to achieve goals and quench my thirst for passion about what I am doing, financial freedom, fame, power, all things that make a man happy and satisfied.<p>I have some ideas that I am crystallizing and researching their profitability, sustainability, ability to grow and supply my demands of self-realization.
One of projects I have in my mind now is a product to automate agriculture by providing a hardware &amp; software platform to small farms that are numerous in European countries [1].<p>In researches for this product I am looking at the investment sources and see that there are public programmes for development of agriculture sector [2]. I think, my product could fall into one of categories of interest for these programmes.<p>My plan is to immigrate to Finland as an entrepreneur. It appeals to me to start a business, having transparent communication with authorities, clear tax schemes, emerging high-tech industry.<p>I am aimed to spread the product to other EU countries&#x27; farms that could get profit of it.<p>- Having the general picture of my vision and plans, can you please share your thoughts about my decision to move to Finland in relates to work on my startup?<p>- Is it a viable option to move to Finland to found a tech startup or am I wrong here? Should I look for other options?<p>- Is it possible for an immigrant entrepreneur to count for public programmes as a source of funding or publicity?<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;epthinktank.eu&#x2F;2013&#x2F;04&#x2F;12&#x2F;young-farmers-in-the-european-union&#x2F;fig-3-2&#x2F;<p>[2] http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ec.europa.eu&#x2F;agriculture&#x2F;direct-support&#x2F;index_en.htm
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stevekemp
[When I first wrote this your title was "Should I move to Finland .."]

I hate to be pessimistic, but if you do move to Finland you'll struggle
enormously with the bureaucracy unless you speak Finnish.

Yes you can move. Yes you can move without a job, and you should be able to
incorporate, and handle the minimal business things pretty easily.. But you'll
get conflicting advice from every bank you speak to, and the process will be
more grueling than you imagine.

If you're registered here, have permission to stay here, and you qualify I
think the fact that you're a foreigner won't discount you from grants/funding.
But again the language barrier will be pretty high.

(Source: Moved from Scotland to Finland. Love it. Not an entrepreneur, but I
know a few.)

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cosmorocket
Yes, I changed the title to broaden the topic to figure out the best
alternative in European Union. Finland was so far my favorite variant. Thanks
for your sharing!

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NetStrikeForce
I would have said UK in general and London in particular, but as we don't know
what will happen in the next 2 to 5 years, I would steer clear from that.

Ireland and the Netherlands sound like the next reasonable options. Easy to do
stuff in English, big pools of talent to poach from, very open to foreign
companies and who knows, you might land a sweet tax deal while you're at it
;-)

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DrNuke
Baltic states are a lively option for entrepreneurship and startups in the EU
nowadays, in particular Estonia, also probably more suited to a Russian
family?

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poushkar
Berlin.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG1RBMaPGb0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG1RBMaPGb0)

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dorfuss
Right now I live in Germany. Don't go to Germany - the bureaucracy is
absolutely @#@#$ crazy. Today I went to a lawyer and to AOK (German NHS), they
said two contradicting things, the system is insanely complicated, I waste SO
much time an energy, people usually don't speak English and are absolutely NOT
proactive, if anything happens they will not provide you solutions, and since
they have a particular understanding of "professionalism" they will not smile,
which makes you feel you annoyed them, offended them etc. and you will ask
your self: "have I done anything wrong?".

I lived in Denmark and Sweden before, in both 99% people speak English, system
is clear, helpful, forgiving, supportive. Coding environment is rich, strong,
creative and growing. It comes at a cost - taxation is merciless, but if you
plan to have a family and like outdoors, Stockholm is the place to go. Working
conditions, days off, healthcare, childcare, you name it, it's great. In
Denmark I lived with a woman who had a rare lung desease,
lymphangioleiomyomatosis, and was waiting for a transplantation (M., rest in
peace), the state paid for everything, a cab came twice a month to take her to
cinema or restaurant, she had an extremely expensive light oxygen machine with
which she could go for a walk or take a shower like a human being. So it's
really great.

Poland and UK I would not recommend because of the political situation there
is not sane or predictable. But both have surprisingly low taxation, I ran a
company for two years in Poland, costs are very low for a big European country
with good developers (e.g. you pay flat 18% income tax + ~300euros
social&health insurance) and you can get junior developers (I know about .NET
C#, Sharepoint) working for you for 1000 euros a month, seniors for 2000-3000.
And life is extremely cheap minimum wage is something like 400 euros a month.
I did accounting myself, the tax authorities did not penalise me for making a
lot of mistakes and being weeks late with paying VAT (!!!) or totally messing
up with the tax declarations (confused net with gross income and costs
calculations). Most of the paperwork is done online, accountant will take as
little as 30 euros a month to take care of it for you. To get incorporated
(ltd.) costs about 500 euros for the lawyer and then a bit more for
accounting, but you (if I remember correctly) don't have to have any initial
capital - marvelous! There are also companies that sell ltd's with good credit
history, so you can also easily buy a dormant ltd. company without much
paperwork and quickly get a credit/ apply for European funding.

But now they are messing up with the law so I'd be careful.

A lot of warm things I've heard about the Netherlands and I would consider
Amsterdam for myself as the next stop. Same situation - good social support,
very open and direct culture, sane and predictable state and rules of the
game, great high-tech environment, everyone speaks English. Big minus - once
you employ someone it is VERY difficult to get rid of the person. Workers
protection is great for the employed, not so much for the entrepreneur.

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cosmorocket
Thanks man for the detailed report! I am thinking of Netherlands too, seems
like they have very dynamic tech life and the business is lively.

