Ask HN: How can a new startup succeed in Europe in 2026?
Start selling in the US early. To be the global leader, and not just the regional leader, sell across global markets early to establish the position of best product globally.
There's only one method but the returns are quite good: Find 'a friend' who can plug you at sucking EU funds - after that you don't need to worry about product quality or anything else ;)
EU funds, please tell me more.
20 or so yrs ago I read a 300 page "EU Start-up Grants Guide" - small print legalese or Kant is children prose in comparison. I managed to reduce to 5 criteria to get 100 points needed to qualify:
20 pts - parrot EU buzzwords profusely without any context or logic
20 pts - spend a tone of money for certificates issued by EU approved firms
20 pts - prove your firm is already rich and wants the grant only to get richer
20 pts - sign yourself in for insane bureaucratic oversight and 30% of revenue kick-back to EU selected services (all your suppliers need to be 'preaproved')
20 pts - !!! THIS !!! prove that you already participated in previous projects
So basically it was 300 pages of gibberish summarized as "you are neither sufficiently 'well connected' or obedient to get grants"