Europe’s startups need talent to thrive. Help make it happen.
Juliette-Marie Somerset
CEO at Somerset Capital | Board of Advisors Minerva CQ | Board of Advisors UniRock Partners | Advisor/Mentor Norrsken Impact Accelerator | Mentor Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center |Mentor CV Labs in Crypto Valley
Kindly join CEOs, founders, investors and startup employees across Europe, and sign a letter to Europe's policymakers, urging them to help startups attract and retain the best talent. https://notoptional.eu
The following letter will be sent to Europe’s policymakers on the 7th January, 2019. Kindly add your signature to the letter today.
Policymakers, entrepreneurs and investors must work together to bring more talent to Europe’s startups. Here’s why.
The European tech sector has never been stronger. From London to Lisbon, Paris to Prague, Europe is now nurturing some of the world’s most dynamic and creative companies. And not all are fledgling young startups: many are already substantial, high-growth enterprises set to succeed in the global market.
The days of living in Silicon Valley’s shadow are over. We no longer lack ambition and capital. Now, Europe is a shining powerhouse of bold, new business models that drive economic growth, generate jobs and improve people’s lives.
We’d all like to see this fair weather continue, but storm clouds are gathering on the horizon.
Europe could be the world’s most entrepreneurial continent but the limited availability of talent to nurture and fuel its blossoming start-up ecosystem is a serious bottleneck to growth. That’s why we, the founders and executives of Europe’s leading tech businesses, now urge policymakers to put talent at the top of their agenda.
Over the next twelve months, Europe’s startups will need to hire more than 100,000 employees. Add to that the number of employees that start-ups yet to be born will need to get their ideas off the ground. Reaching that goal will be hard, but hard things are what we do and we’re ready to rise to the challenge.
Without delay, we call on legislators to fix the patchy, inconsistent and often punitive rules that govern employee ownership — the practice of giving staff options to acquire a slice of the company they’re working for.
This isn’t just a perk on top of a salary: universally, stock options reward employees for taking the risk of joining a young, unproven business, and give them a real stake in their company’s future success. Stock options are one of the main levers that startups use to recruit the talent they need; these companies simply can’t afford to pay the higher wages of more established businesses.
But policies that currently govern employee ownership across Europe are often archaic and highly ineffective. Some are so punishing that they put our startups at a major disadvantage to their peers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with whom we’re competing for the best designers, developers, product managers, and more.
If we fail to take action, we could see a brain drain of Europe’s best and brightest, leading to fewer jobs created and slower growth. That’s why we need to create startup-friendly employee share ownership schemes, to help Europe’s tech sector — its greatest engine of growth, innovation and employment — to succeed and thrive in the global labour market.
If we don’t eliminate the talent bottleneck, we risk squandering the incredible momentum that European tech has built up in recent years. The next Google, Amazon or Netflix could well come from Europe, but for that to happen, reforming the rules of employee ownership is definitely not optional.
Signed by 500+ CEOs, founders, investors and employees of Europe’s startups.
Startup Signatories
Paulin Dementhon, CEO & Founder Drivy
Frederic Mazzella, Founder BlaBlaCar
Mikkel Svane, CEO & Founder Zendesk
Valentin S., CEO & Founder N26
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO & Founder Klarna
Johannes Reck, CEO & Founder GetYourGuide
Alice Zagury, CEO & Founder The Family
Christian Reber, CEO & Founder Pitch
Johannes Schildt, CEO & Founder KRY
Ilkka Paananen, CEO & Founder Supercell
Taavet Hinrikus, CEO & Co-Founder TransferWise
Lucas Carne, Founder & Executive Chairman Privalia
Jean-Charles Samuelian, CEO & Founder Alan
Alex Saint, CEO & Founder Secret Escapes
Dr. Tamaz Georgadze CEO & Founder Raisin GmbH
Patrick Collison, CEO & Co-Founder Stripe
Nik Storonsky, CEO & Founder Revolut
Samir Desai, CEO & Co-Founder Funding Circle UK
Markus Villig, CEO & Founder Taxify
JB Rudelle, CEO & Founder Criteo
Nicolas Brusson, CEO & Founder BlaBlaCar
Jacob de Geer, CEO & Founder iZettle
José Neves, CEO & Founder Farfetch
Felix Van de Maele, CEO & Co-Founder Collibra
Daniel Dines, CEO & Co-Founder UiPath
Niklas ?stberg, CEO & Founder Delivery Hero
Dominik S. Richter, CEO & Founder HelloFresh
Raoul Scherwitzl, CEO & Founder Natural Cycles
Juan de Antonio, CEO & Founder Cabify
Peter Holten Muhlmann, CEO & Founder Trustpilot
Andreas Saari, CEO Slush
Nicolas Colin,, Co-Founder & Director The Family
Alexandra Depledge, MBE, CEO & Founder RESI
Torben Friehe, CEO 1aim
Václav ?trupl, Partner Miton
Joaquim Lecha, CEO & Co-Founder Typeform.com
Dr. Vedrana H?gqvist Tabor, CEO Boost Thyroid by VLM Health
Rodolphe Ardant, CEO Spendesk!
Carl Tengberg, CEO Nordics Delivery Hero
Adrien Roose, CEO COWBOY
Naren Shaam, Founder & CEO GoEuro
Travis Todd, Co-Founder & CEO Silicon Allee
Johannes Beil, CEO & Co-Founder amie
Ben Costantini, Founder & CEO Startup Sesame
Raffael Johnen, CEO & Co-Founder auxmoney
Fabian Wunderlich, Founder & Managing Director Lingoda GmbH
David Okuniev, Co- Founder Typeform.com
Joris Van Der Gucht, CEO & Founder Silverfin
Rohan Silva CEO & Founder Second Home
Virgílio Bento, Founder & CEO SWORD Health
Samm Green, CEO Knowit
Amine Bounjou, Co-Founder kard
Martin Varsavsky, Executive Chairman Prelude Fertility
Matthieu Marchand, Investment Officer Partech Ventures
Kevin Aserraf, Growth@ Alan
James Birch, COO Pluto
#NotOptional #Europe #founders #investors #eutech #EU #startups #talent #StartupPolicy #entrepreneurship
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