I spent last week in Europe meeting with entrepreneurs in Amsterdam and Paris (it is a tough job but someone has got to do it). I met with some very smart people who are working on interesting projects. They are absolutely committed to their startups and are, in varying degrees, having some success in their respective markets. But I was once again reminded of the powerful impact the right ecosystem has on company building.Starting a company is by its very nature a Herculean task. The odds are very much against you. As a general matter, people don’t like working for startups, companies don’t like buying from startups, building owners don’t like renting to startups, banks don’t like lending to startups, press don’t like talking with startups, integrators don’t like partnering with startups, lawyers don’t like representing startups, and investors don’t like funding startups. In Europe, each of these is more than a little true.
Thanks for the link, Pete!
No comments yet.