Europe's Largest Brain Drain and Lost Startups

What: A video about how Europe experiences brain drain through lost companies and people.

Why: There can be large tangents about the value of the company climate generally, but it's important to understand what things are taken away by the country across the ocean.

How: We use primary and secondary sources to insulate an argument about stolen human capital, and this video is by no means unbiased.

Sources:

The sources for the video can be found here:

About us:

We are a team of Europeans trying to create European media.

Feedback is extremely useful, and it's incredibly important to understand that we are by no means the arbiters of truth: we can be wrong, and we will be wrong.

Also, there is a large difference between fake narratives and fake facts. Although we will try to stay as close to the truth in presenting objective facts (i.e there are 27 EU commissioners not 10), it is much more difficult to stay close to the truth when it comes to important narratives.

What the team decides is 'news' can shift the attention to a certain set of facts that may be true but may not be as important for other people, and this is where bias can easily come to fruition.

We ask the viewers to be aware of our bias and realize that, just like them, we are an imperfect team pushed by our own moral convictions and beliefs.

Music:
Title: Blue Wednesday, tender spring - Exhale
Artist: Blue Wednesday

[hoogyoutube]

Two points. One, the claim that UIpath was one of the fastest growing companies was in 2020 – not 2021. And two, Ion Soica is actually Ion Stoica, but it doesn't come out clearly in the audio.

[KingUnKaged]

It's funny, it sounds like in the EU this is considered a hot topic, in Canada we're all just kinda resigned to it. When an actor gets famous, when a startup gets founded, when something gets invented, there are already people taking bets on how soon they'll head off to the US, never to be seen again.

[axelfriberg]

Just want to say I’m really enjoying this channel already. Nice graphics, well researched, pleasant narration. Keep up the good work!

[irenejohannessen]

As a Norwegian working in Silicon Valley, I've realized that Europeans and Americans have a very different mindset. While Europeans ask why, Americans ask why not.

Edit: So this comment blew up recently so I would like to answer some common questions:

1) If you have a good job, healthcare is actually pretty great. Considering the money I make, it's honestly a bargain for the high quality of service I receive. So no, I don't have to worry about ambulances since it's obviously covered. Lmao.
2) Rent is expensive, but it's not that high when you adjust it to salary. I still annually save around 100k USD a year after expenses (and I'm not super frugal either)
3) The best value of living in the Valley (and any tech hub in the US) is networking. Some of my ex-collegues founded their own startups and raised millions of dollars.
4) I do miss Europe, but I feel like comparing it to the US doesn't make sense. It's apples to oranges. One isn't better than the other. It all comes down to what's important to you. It really saddens me seeing Europeans and Americans fighting online when in real life we usually work together.

[jaehongsong]

America always wanted to be different than the rest of the world so it makes sense why they are the most innovative. Startup culture started in USA, and is common even today, where young people eat ramen noodles, sleep in a car to save money, while trying to make their absurd ideas into reality. This isn't looked down on but rather praised by the public, and easy to get funding too because if it blows up, it blows up bigger than any country in the world

[Ryanrobi]

US startup founder (techstars alum) here, I know a ton of people from Europe and all around the world here starting companies, universally they say their home country's are naturally risk adverse and seek comfort and security 9ver innovation and growth. It's mostly a culture thing and centralized government funding as an answer is just silly and counter productive.

[chacmool]

None of this is new or recent. For centuries, Europe has been an exporter of people and brains. This, of course, is hardly ever mentioned by the typically arrogant and haughty European. Let's not forget, the success of countries like the US, Canada, Australia are direct evidence of Europe's inability to provide a conducive and welcoming environment for its peoples. Europeans pride themselves in having a long history, but ironically their view of history is often quite selective, self-interested and myopic.

[leonidas]

I also watched a video about a German person explains how tough is the process to build a business in Germany. The government puts so many requirements that many entrepreneurs just end up giving up or emigrate to countries like the USA.

[hraklispapas]

In Greece, the Greek taxpayers basically pay for the university education of future immigrants(like me for example).

[AnaIvanovicever]

Europe will never be competitive due to cumbersome labor regulations and high taxes.

[TeacherFlash]

I will move my company to the U.S. as well. Europe is not capable of providing us support as a startup because national identities keep Europe very divided. Movement of talent is very restricted, discrimination against non-native speakers is beyond conscious minds of people who do it, taxes are extremely high. The main problem is no common language, so young talented people study their fields in foreign different languages. So many Asians and Indians are doctors in the U.S. and engineers in Silicon Valley. In Europe if you look at the leadership of most companies... It's just local people. It is impossible to scale up your ideas here. So we will relocate to the U.S. It has been in the planning for the past couple of years. Nationalism and this collective identity that these little nations have is my number 1 enemy here in trying to scale up our business.

[tonycosta]

It takes 3 months to hire someone in France. And forget about firing them. Money is the least of Europes problems when it comes to startups.

[tzutzu]

As a 2nd generation family busniess owner, the issue is not only VC but bureaucracy and tax laws and much more. Unions builds like a maffia cartels putting people in bankruptcy and much more.
The issue is the state can not put in money to increase start ups but it must be a private identity like VC or capital from single investor. It is the rule of a free market, Europe is build a socialist market. Hate it or love it, that is the largest evidence US has grown with a few trillion then the EU after Covid.

[oopsimovedagain.school]

The entrepreneurship situation in Europe, is the result of what European citizens wanted: A highly regulated, highly taxed environment, where the government has his word on every single thing. Turns out that this combination "de-fertilize" the land for startups...

[rnbpl]

i moved into Europe last year and because of the regulation and weird governments it really feels like a more polite version of China. I won't stay much longer and I wouldn't want to invest here either.

[SelonNerias]

I think this was an ok video, with excellent production quality, but I felt kind of disappointed it didn't go further into depth as to the reasons so many European startups go to the US.

[giovannipelissero]

Damn I like this channel. Keep it up! It's so good

[yunleung]

I would love to work and live in the netherlands... but the money!!

[Moribus_Artibus]

Yes, but there is also the alienation that gets created when foreign startups and people make more money than the average American, which is often what leads to aggressive backlash.

[JPPJustPerfectPlayers]

A nice conclusion indeed, cause after living for a year in Canada I can say for sure that Europe is objectively and in many aspects is much better than the US from infrastructure to the quality of life. I moved back to Europe and have no desire to go to the US or Canada for any purpose except only travel.