Europe, please wake up.
Europe is known for some of the best research in the world and the best talent. But Europe is not known for the best opportunities.
In all honesty, it’s so bad that, by now, Europe is considered a meme in the international startup ecosystem. Not a place that innovates, but that – at best – "only regulates". A place ambitious people "have to leave".
Don't believe me? Watch Eric Schmidt or Marc Andreessen talk about Europe. It's so common as an opinion that even many future founders in Europe start to believe it too.
To change this we need to create an environment where founders can succeed. If we want the innovation created in our universities to be brought to market by Europeans instead of Americans we need to fix the root causes.
What's the root cause?
People mention ambition, bureaucracy, taxes and hundreds of other reasons. None of them are the true root cause, they are just the symptoms of the root cause.
For startups, Europe’s main problem is fragmentation.
From consumer markets, languages, laws, education systems, taxes, to funding – Europe acts like a network of small countries instead of one unified market.
To be a place where innovation can thrive, we don't need to become more American, we need to become more European. And the Euro is the proof that we can.
The goal of this project is to…
Highlight excellence – to shift the discussion from negative memes to our impressive realities
Showcase the actual problems – to unify the narrative of our requests to policymakers
Suggest few and simple solutions – to allow policy makers picking efforts with high leverage
eu/acc – by European founders, for European founders.