De: TAF - "Empreendedorismo na Europa, visto por um investidor americano"
Vale a pena ler o que escreveu um investidor de risco americano no seu blog. E se o Porto se inspirasse nisto?
"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.
Despite some relatively recent efforts by U.S. venture capital firms like Benchmark Capital abroad and the notable recent success of Index Ventures out of Switzerland (driven largely by the spectacularly successful outcome of Skype), Europe remains more or less devoid of risk capital. It is extremely difficult to find angel investors to get a company off the ground and perhaps equally difficult to find professional investors willing to engage in venture financing. (...)
In contrast to Europe, the San Francisco Bay Area and other startup centers throughout the United States (...) have strong institutions that support company building. For example, in the Bay Area, along with a robust angel community and Venture Capital industry, there are law firms that actually like representing startups (...), banks and venture debt firms that actually like lending to startups (...), building owners that actually like renting to startups (...), accounting firms that actually like auditing startups (...), PR firms, Integrators, staffing firms, etc. etc.
Starting a successful company in the Bay Area remains a Herculean task but at least you get a little bit of help along the way. The first city in Europe that can nurture that same ecosystem will become the region's center of entrepreneurship. Amsterdam is working hard to become that center and they may just succeed while London isn't looking."
