In line with several of the comments on my note about the lack of European startups comes this Computer Business Review piece on a report from Indepen Consultants in the UK about Europe’s information and communications technology policies. The redux is that “change will involve the entry and exit of firms, the hiring and firing of labour, and the need for more general-purpose skills”. The report puts the blame on the labour regulations that make it difficult to get the “creative destruction” required to get the thriving ecosystem you see in the US, where hundreds of startups flourish in the Bay Area alone. The price of so many startups is low pay, rapid hiring and sudden firing (no job stability), but for the possible ultimate payoff of stock and riches should the company IPO or be purchased (or make customers happy, in a few rare cases). I can’t wait to hear what Danny Rimer has to say about this. He’s a European VC, a partner in Index Ventures whose investments include Skype, MySQL, and Zend, and he’ll be keynoting EuroOSCON.
