Firstly, Mario Draghi's recent report on EU competitiveness is very promising: - €800B annual investment boost proposed - Focus on innovation & R&D - Simplified IPO rules for tech companies - Integrated EU innovation ecosystem - Emphasis on advanced tech

🇪🇺 EU: Born out of war (1957) - 449M people - 27 countries - World's largest single market 🇺🇸 USA: Born out of revolution (1776) - 334M people - 50 states - World's largest economy

Recent gap in performance has been staggering… 2010-2023: 🇪🇺 EU productivity: +5% 🇺🇸 US productivity: +22% GDP Share (1960 vs 2024): 🇪🇺 EU: 34% → 15% 🇺🇸 US: 28% → 25%

Let’s look at the tech industry to show some key points beyond the numbers. Crippling regulations and anti-entrepreneurial culture have been choking Europe for many years. The effects are clear when looking at the disparity in big tech platforms vs US and Asia.

Tech Industry Comparison: 🇪🇺 EU - 0 trillion-dollar companies - Average tech salary MUCH lower than US - 18-24 months startup time - INSANE regulations 🇺🇸 US - 9 trillion-dollar companies - $180k-$300k+ salaries - 1-2 months startup time - Founder-friendly But there's more.

30% of European unicorns have relocated to the US since 2008. And a significant % of the biggest companies in the US have been founded by Europeans! Crazy. But there are further reasons why founders are fleeing Europe…

Situation for startups: 🇺🇸 US - SAFE investment - 500K seed round, pre-product - True VC: high risk high reward - Unified regime and market 🇪🇺 EU - SAFE?? - 115K seed round, with revenues - Closer to Private Equity, with exceptions - 27 fragmented, different markets and regimes

The combination of intense government overreach and lack of focus on innovation has led to what looks like a death spiral… Hard to argue against this trajectory when we see news like this constantly… Is all hope lost?

Well, perhaps not exactly. Just in the last days Spotify made European Tech history reaching $100BN market cap. And hold on guys, what’s happening with Bending Spoons in Italy?? Let’s take a closer look…

In just the last year, they have acquired multiple notable companies. Previously these were huge in Silicon Valley – all now in Italy. There’s something that’s still working in Europe…

So is there hope? We will have to see a violent change in trajectory for both mindset and regulatory approach. I’d argue there is a faint glimmer here… One in the shape of: Super Mario “whatever it takes” Draghi.

There’s more. The 28th regime: EU's Delaware C-corp - Optional pan-European startup entity - Unified regulatory framework - Simplified cross-border operations - EU Commission proposal expected by 2025 Europe may soon have the FAST, (similar to the SAFE) PLUS a unified market.

Also initiatives like… EU Inc: The grassroots push behind the 28th regime - Standardized investment processes - EU-wide employee stock options - Fully digital incorporation 13,000+ signatories from tech leaders & VCs so far!

The significance of all of this? Well, we have seen something quite extraordinary in the US: A violent change of paradigm and some early signals are already here even for Europe. So the question is… What is the environment from which the creator of EU’s @DOGE will come from?

With these efforts to bring back innovation to Europe… And the potential influence of the actions of DOGE… There's truly a chance that Europe could be saved. Not in the next few years, but within the next decade? Not to be discounted. The virus of change is going viral!

The first step to change is awareness. My personal take is that the impact of innovations like DOGE and even memes could lead to a strong reversal in Europe: (Could memes like these save Europe??)

In the short term, the key play for global startups is to earn in USD, spend in EUR. Longer-term… EU startups – pure startups not like Bending Spoons – can rise from hedging lower operational cost and a unified, not longer fragmented, market. The tides are turning slowly.

But a more violent change is needed. So, to conclude: It's easy to say we're doomed today. But countertendency signs are there. I see an opportunity for the European grind to capitalize and accelerate:

- Unified startup market - Removal of frictions - Lower talent costs compared to US - Huge opportunity for capital to enter proportionally more competitive deals - Huge opportunity for verticals of tech still not mainstream in Europe to grow fast So how might things turn out?

Today is difficult, true, but what will the signals be? A few big operators entering the European bet in the next few years, and others will follow through at the speed of light. In the meantime, let's hope this will happen FAST.

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