I’m back in Canada after visiting Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Berlin.

I have a bunch of thoughts about North America vs Europe when it comes to:

  • entrepreneurship
  • building startups
  • business culture
  • livability & lifestyle

First observation: Europe has North America beat when it comes to lifestyle and livability.

As Arvid Kahn says, “Most European cities are built for people, not cars,” and this has a massive impact on how you experience life in a city.

Berlin was especially good in terms of transit: it felt like everything was a 10 minute subway ride away. The bike culture and infrastructure in Amsterdam is inspiring: riding a bicycle around the city just feels good.

Amsterdam and Antwerp were especially beautiful cities. Walkable cobblestone streets and alleys, quaint houses and flats, parks, museums, canals, traditional architecture everywhere. It’s a joy to be in a beautiful city.

But when it comes to building a startup, North America has Europe beat.

We have a culture, lack of bureaucracy, and access to tools and banking that make it much easier.

Starting an indie business is the USA is as simple as paying @atlas $500 for incorporation and opening a @mercury bank account. You can be up and running in a day.

The culture in North America is much more conducive for entrepreneurs. In Europe, a lot of the economy (and government efforts) is dominated by big traditional corporations. Many people end up working for big enterprise companies like Siemens, Bayer, and SAP – and there’s not a lot of incentives for people to go out on their own. “Life has an employee is pretty OK,” one person told me, “there’s a lot of inertia for staying put.”

The bureaucracy, paperwork, accounting, and taxation laws in Europe are doable for large enterprise companies, but incredibly difficult to navigate for small business.

I had numerous people tell me that culturally in Europe you’re told to “know your place” and “not aspire for too much.” Bankruptcy and business failure are seen as dire and shameful consequences. (While in North America, having a business fail is just seen as part of the journey).

Plus: the size and momentum of the US market is really unparalleled. Even very European startups I spoke to have a large percentage (30%+) that comes from customers in the USA.

(It’s also becoming more clear how well-positioned Canada is when it comes to building startups: we have some of the social safety net that Europeans have, while simultaneously having access to the US market)

European governments have a huge opportunity: if they made life easier for startup entrepreneurs (taxation, paperwork) there would be a huge incentive for founders to build companies there.

I think North American governments need to focus on building infrastructure (walkable streets, transit, beautiful public spaces) similar to European countries. Beautiful, vibrant cities are attractive to indie entrepreneurs who want a better lifestyle.

In both Europe and North America, I think governments should drastically reduce the burden on small businesses for collecting and remitting sales taxes. (If I were them, I would make the payment processors collect and remit these taxes).

Indie hackers and founders are already moving to countries that will give them a better lifestyle without crushing them with administrative burdens.

To remain attractive to founders, European governments need to make it easier to start and run a small business. North American governments need to make our cities more beautiful, livable, walkable.