Listen to Loic Lemeur’s views on why “Why Silicon Valley kicks Europe’s butt”. Nothing special if you read regularly my blog but said by someone who has visibility, credibility and experience on both sides of the ocean.

Check his arguments:
– the main reason is how much time we take for lunch in Silicon Valley (i.e. feeling of urgency)
– all in one place (i.e. critical mass)
– like a campus (i.e. easy connections, young, sunny)
– business happens 24/7 even when you don’t expect it (i.e. obsession)
– seed funding and VCs (i.e. money)
– flexible (i.e. changes happen fast)
– “how can I help” attitude (i.e. open and pragmatic)
– easy to get an appointemnet (i.e. open again)
– people trust by default (i.e. open mindedness)
– diversity (i.e. yes diversity works in the US)
– press and bloggers (i.e. tech friendly culture)
– Europeans begin locally (i.e. not globally)
– too much copy / paste in Europe (i.e. no real innovations?)
– Europeans hire local (i.e. challenging to go global)
– Think in English (i.e. another challenge)
– you guys can fix it (i.e. self-confidence and confidence in others – empowerment, remember class A people hire class A+ people)
– aim at being a world leader (i.e. ambition)
– focus on execution, ideas do not matter (i.e. action oriented)
– gather a community and iterate (i.e. learn by doing, by trials and errors)
– believe in yourself (i.e. …)

Well even if this may be obvious for some of you, I still had to fight against people who disagree about this (check my previous post!)

yYou can compare all this to my summary slide when I talk about Silicon Valley. No frustration in all this as we all have to say these things endlessly, but sometimes, still too often!