Comments on: Hard times in Europe may be a startup’s advantage

By: Miss78

Miss78 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:49:50 +0000

This is a trick question, right? ,

By: George Black

George Black — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:32:03 +0000

Very interesting article, I agree that you have to get the technology right before launching into the publicity.

I am intrigued by Jens’ point, if this is the case then surely it is the job of technology journalists to find out and report on these IPOs.

By: wildirishguy

wildirishguy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:32:11 +0000

The good news from this theory is — I am definitely getting thinner!!

I agree with some of the article, the fire tends to tighten the idea and inplementation, but in the end it needs rocket fuel to get it exposed globally. You can only twist and turn and be creative for so long or you eventually miss the window.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:10:04 +0000

Does Skype’s day to day business make money? If so can someone explain to me how they do it? It’s a mystery to me.

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:33:21 +0000

Jens – I like the idea. Email me.

By: Jens

Jens — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:00:15 +0000

I actually disagree. Fact is that quite a few very successful companies have come out of Europe over the last years. We also have just as many 100s million dollar exits over the last years as the US does. Problem is that we don’t shout about them. So, few people know.

When Mike is back from holiday, I suggest he starts some sort of ‘hall of exit fame’, so we can all see what the companies were that made it big. I know that Simon Cook @ DFJEsprit has a list of all of the big exits from the last three to four years, maybe he can contribute that as a starting point and we can all fill?

I start by nominating Skype, an even bigger exit than YouTube and a consumer company. What companies do you know? (Tip: online betting is massive in Europe…)

By: On hard times « On Technology

On hard times « On Technology — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:41:26 +0000

[...] hard times 13 08 2008 I have a guest post over at Techcrunch UK so get over there and take a [...]

By: David Cruickshank

David Cruickshank — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:23:57 +0000

Some excellent points Robleh. No wonder too that the Greeks & Turks have embarrassed the likes of England in recent European Football Championships.

By: Sean Glass

Sean Glass — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:14:51 +0000

You make a great point. I remember seeing an article showing that many of the largest and most succesful sustainable businesses have been started during economic downturns. Not sure if anyone has done a quantitative study of this. It might be that during economic downturns, the scarcity of funds means that ideas and teams that aren’t as good go away faster, meaning there is less noise that the companies that are succeeding have to deal with.