*not really.
In fact, only our Ex-Chancellor did visit the Valley. And well, it actually didn’t turn out well for Uber (of course it’s not related but the coincidence led to this pun). He also visited Netflix and everyone in Austria is getting nervous:
Kaum kündigt #Kurz seinen Besuch an, geht’s mit #Netflix auch schon bergab https://t.co/y7XGh8H7Pk
— Pleschberger (@Pleschberger) July 18, 2019
However, the fact an Ex-Chancellor visiting US companies during an election campaign, assuring this trip is not part of the campaign, is.. well, let’s say it smells. For a matter of fact, here in Austria, nobody knows who’s paying this trip (yet).
When we’re talking about “the Silicon Valley in/of Austria”, politics is linked to it. Why? Because the tax and social systems are hard to deal with when you just founded your company. So you have to put aside a lot of money when, for example, the SVA (Sozialversicherungsanstalt) want’s their slice of the cake. On the other hand, Austria still has a very good social and healthcare system you can rely on when you’re ill or lost your job.
So getting your “Million Dollar idea” ready to fly is no big deal in the US while in Austria it requires much more money and planning upfront. This is in fact a big blocker when it comes to a healthy startup environment.
If you’re ready to take the risk and go All-In with your green and sustainable idea: have a look at Alles, was grün ist!
