Building Tech Leaders from Europe [EN]

Europe's economy and consumer markets are comparable in size to the US, yet Europe still pales in comparison when it comes to the number of tech leaders it produces. Why is that the case? To build tech leaders from Europe, startups need to move beyond being national champions, and address Europe as a single market early on, irrespective of the cultural and administrative challenges. The ecosystem is changing, and becoming increasingly favourable to pan-European growth. BlaBlaCar, the world’s leading long-distance ridesharing community, with 20 million members across 19 countries, expanded across Europe early in its development, favouring an "aqui-hire" strategy creating immediate local relevance. Recent successes by European tech players, from Skype to Adyen or Spotify, are showing that the Europe has what it takes to build its tech Unicorns.