When it comes to risk factor, we know that businesses in Europe are wary of risks associated with business and startups are averse to it. Contrary to this, in the US, businesses are quite happy taking risks. Therefore, it is nothing short of spectacular when we see the meteoric rise of Skype from European soils. Obviously, without gambling hard, Skype wouldn’t have become what it is today.
Perhaps for that, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstroem has become bold and now advocating for a risk-ok business mentality in Europe. He says that European governments must encourage a shift in mindsets of entrepreneurship towards more US-like. He said that the present state of affairs is not good for entrepreneurship at all.
Speaking in a news conference a week ahead of meeting European Union leaders to make Europe more competitive, he said;
In the U.S. for example, if you have a start-up and it doesn’t work out, you have gained an experience. In Europe, you have made a mistake.
And he is right!
Read more in BizReport
Comments
No, not quite right.
What European governments need to do is butt out altogether. Then businesses will be less afraid to try new ventures.
Socialism is cancer.
Hi Todd,
You are right when you said that the European governments should butt out altogether. Actually, in my opinion, it is a culture in Europe for the governments to meddle in private business affairs. Though not related with VoIP, the latest being Mittal Steel’s ’hostile bid’ for acquiring Arcelor meeting stiff resistance from the Luxembourg-French governments.
I dare say, the Europeans are not as enterprising as the Americans. Europe has to go a long way as a nation of collective states if they hope to catch up with the US in every field, be it in business or technology.
The American ’spirit’ on business is the one to emulate and when Zennstroem quipped what is quoted in the post above, you can’t help but agree with him. Isn’t it Todd?
Thanks,
Jonty
Yeah, Jonty, I agree that Zennstroem is interjecting some Cantillon/Austrian entrepreneurial business theory sanity into the collectivist European nightmare that has plagued that continent on and off since at least the time of the Munster-communists.
Still, I’m not much of a fan of Skype technology itself, and I think Zennstroem will eventually regret a tie-in-lock-in approach to securing customer loyalty. There are plenty of SIP-standard solutions out there on the free market–most, as you say, coming from North America (I’m in Canada myself).