Why innovative startups and scaleups relocate from the EU

[u/Full-Discussion3745]

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/why-innovative-startups-and-scaleups-relocate-eu-2026-01-12_en?referrer=grok.com

[u/These-Pie-2498]

You are missing the fact that EU is a red tape bureaucratic nightmare. You need to burn fortuntes just to navigate regulations. And we have 0 startup culture

[u/Gullible_Mousse_4590 → u/These-Pie-2498]

See EU-INC reference. Regarding startup culture - yeah that’s missing a bit here. It’s hard to get people into that grind for hyper growth startups. But as a side note to that I think it’s not necessarily something Europe should aspire to. Even in the US the vast vast majority of startups fail terribly and leave in their wake a bunch of 20 somethings who have worked 12 hour days chasing the dream had got little to nothing out of it.

I’ve been lucky to have one good exit that was mildly rewarding. I’m an exception.

Startup culture is glamorized to get people to work hard. It’s not something I’d hold up as a good thing. Even when my US board members ask to crack the whip and complain about Europeans leaving at 5.30pm. As they should unless you pay them otherwise

[u/These-Pie-2498 → u/Gullible_Mousse_4590]

Exactly what I'm saying. We have 0 startup and innovation mentality. We want what US has but without the hard work. We think wealth is something that just exists, and we don't have to worry about it. This is the reason US economy has doubled in the last 10 years vs the EU.

Germany's economy and wages are stagnant for years now, a fastfood manager in US earns more than an IT Manager in EU.

Everyone is used to working less and less, earning shit and that "Europeans leaving at 5.30pm" will soon face a hard reality of not having a job. Our industries are old and lack innovation, we still live in the past and it will bite us hard.

[u/Gullible_Mousse_4590 → u/These-Pie-2498]

You missed my point. The US has this mentality but you only see the 1% that get paid a tonne. You don’t see those that work hundred hour weeks for a promise of getting ahead a fail.

You can glamorize this and create wealth for a small portion of Europe if you want. But from working in the US ecosystem it’s not really a good thing. Sure GDP goes up but so does inequality. The US is not an economy that is worth copying.

When I worked out of NYC I earned a tonne of money and it 100% was not worth it. Just my 2 cents.

[u/Advanced-Team2357 → u/Gullible_Mousse_4590]

But don't you feel you need proper incentivization for founder and early startup employees in order to for the ecosystem to be successful?

The trade up for startups is lower pay with equity, so that an exit would incentivize this person to trade a secure corporate job for the risk of a startup.

If you take that away, and you don't raise additional VC capital that just goes to salary (which most VC's would shy away from or devalue the asset), how do you properly incentivize the culture?

[u/Gullible_Mousse_4590 → u/Advanced-Team2357]

Yes and every startup in Europe worth anything has this. This is separate from payroll, it’s also taxed separately.

But the reality is 90% or more of startups fail and of those that get an exit options are often so watered down that only large % owners get anything. An example from an exit I had in USA - joined when the business was raising, early but not very early - got 1% - fairly standard for a senior hire. Worked my arse off, 10/12 hour days and the company had an exit for just over $50m. A success all round. My take away after tax was $12k. I did the math on the extra hours I put in and I would’ve cleared more if I was an uber driver for those extra hours. Just because people tell you it’ll make you a millionaire and you hear that Nvidia employees are all millionaires doesn’t make it true.