But I wanted to highlight the key difference between European and American start-up ecosystem regarding funding.
I don't think it is quite that black. There are plenty of good companies and nice people that make bank from starting new companies. The hype and the bro-culture are not the only faces the start-up community has and if that all you see then you're missing a lot of the good that is happening: Female / minority participation in start-ups is substantially above country average for most countries in Western Europe, there are quite a few start-ups that are working hard to achieve something good for the world, but not in an 'Instagram' like manner kind of 'good for the world'.
SMEs are the backbone of private enterprise in Europe, they create more jobs and employ more people than all of the enterprises combined. They are the backbone of the economy and I'm more than happy to see a thriving eco-system around them.
If you're thinking of SV as a source of tech then you are missing the point: SV is a source of capital.
If we taxed people sensibly and spread it around, then there would be a lot more capital available to the average person wishing to start a business.
This is one of the reasons why I am worried that GitLab will end up selling to a US based company. Time will tell if they hold strong, if they do I'll be sure to buy stock in their eventual IPO just as a reward for showing that a US exit is not the only avenue available.
