germany Archives - MICHAEL REUTER

Why German Venture Capital doesn’t take off

michaelreuter — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:45:14 +0000

In Germany there are 4 (four) VC companies with considerable funds within the range of EUR 100 million or above. Taking into account that Germany is one of the biggest economies worldwide this fact is a shortcoming, to say the least.

Why is that?

One possible answer you’ll find watching this talk with Marc Andreessen. Marc describes the “American Way of funding a Start-up” as “fund it, scale it, and then look for a business model”. Now — call a German VC, show him your powerpoint and explain the Andreessen strategy to him. Or quote Facebook’s Peter Thiel by saying: “We’re also focused on getting the product right,” says Thiel. “Getting ads right—that’s not the top user demand.” Unless you aren’t Marc or Peter himself or you have sold a company successfully before — the VC will throw you out.

In other words: invent the next facebook or twitter (don’t take this literally — I mean the next big thing) and no single German VC will fund you — promised. Maybe it’s unfair to limit this to German VCs — the reason for Loic LeMeur with Seesmic to move from Paris to San Francisco or Jajah to move from Austria to Silicon Valley were the same — they felt having scalable businesses — but they lacked a business model at that period. This did not prevent US-VCs from funding.

Haven’t European VCs read Talib’s Black Swan? Do they think inside the box — are they trapped in induction? Is there a lack of vision? Or is it — plainly spoken — too risky to invest into a facebook or twitter in its first months?

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Germans — upholders of moral standards

michaelreuter — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:26:19 +0000

Deutsche Post’s Ex-CEO Klaus Zumwinkel has been picked up early in the morning by tax investigators — staged live with TV cams. In the following days Mr Zumwinkel’s tax evasion was the No 1 content in German media. He wasn’t alone — the BND — the German spies — has bought a CD with thousands of addresses of German clients of the LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, a tax haven.

A deer-hunt followed. Peer Steinbrück, the finance minister, threatened to close all tax loopholes referring to Liechtenstein. German media started a moral crusade with the one investing his money in Switzerland or Liechtenstein being the bad guy. Politicians joined the wolves and exceled in suggestions of punishment. All that under the pretence of moral standards.

Were it the typical outbreak after some breaches of regulations — fine: everybody would move on with his daily business. This time it feels different. Even people without accounts in tax havens feel uncomfortable facing this aggressive reaction of officials. On the same day we read that more and more highly qualified skilled workers are missing in Germany. They do not immigrate. Why should they? There is no incentive for living and working in Germany, a country with the highest tax burden in Western Europe, a government still increasing this burden (probably thinking of the Laffer curve as racetrack) and trying to squeeze money out of the hardest working citizens. Perhaps it’s time for a change.

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McCain: Putin, President of Germany

michaelreuter — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:14:54 +0000

It’ a matter of fact that for women there are glass ceilings everywhere. They have to fight hard to make it to the top. But even being there they must realize how lonely it is: Poor Angela Merkel.…
Wait a second — did McCain say President? Ah — that changes everything: Poor Horst Köhler…

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