Twitteretter

There are many startups which do not aspire to either of these, hefty goals. But ambitious ones often start with one of these two objectives in mind. Possibly with both, but typically, with one over the other. This is at least my observation from talking to young people interested in start up, which is something I am doing quite frequently these days. Even though I do of course think that one objective is morally superior to the other, this post is concerned with which is a better engine for success. On this, I can offer, of course, only an opinion, I do not claim to have the key, and a generally correct answer may not even exist. But it strikes me that the will to change the World, the thirst for ultimate impact, is a better ram with which to batter the many barriers that will block your path than the will to become rich which you can, of course, always do in some other way. And thus, as it often happens in life, it may be that the riches come more often to those who seek them less Le...

Why does US have a much greater number of tech start ups than Spain? Some commonly cited reasons are skills and entrepreneurial spirit. This is the myth of Silicon Valley. It no longer holds true. Spain has many high quality, highly educated individuals, and many have entrepreneurial spirit. After years of international ‘entrepreneuring’, I have concluded that the biggest difference is access to capital. US is full of family offices, angel investors and venture capitalists who will fund tech start ups. In Spain, there are very few. And funding is critical to both the success and dimension of any new business. A great Spanish idea with a hugely entrepreneurial founder will most likely not reach the mass needed to succeed globally due to lack of finance. This, I think, is because US is full of people who have made fortunes in technology. They understand tech and that investing in tech is highly profitable. In Spain, money has been made differently, and that understanding is lacking