A Message to Europeans in the Start Up / Scale Up Ecosystem: "Fortune Favours the Bold!"

“Fortune favours the bold” goes the old proverb. And in his thought piece today, the Financial Times Sifted’s Zed Tarar rather puts forward to Europe-based #business start up #founders the need to be bolder, be more pioneering, and be more ambitious in stance if they have intention to court favour with America's #VCs (or, perhaps even, America full stop!).

An American who now bases himself out of London, Tarar expertly shares his observations of European #entrepreneurs and their risk tolerance profile versus their American counterparts. He also describes how those European #leaders pitch their #businesses, which are articulate and meaningful in style but somehow fail to hit the mark with American VCs with whom a straighter, punchier, more concise and somehow less colourful narrative would better resonate.

As an American who works on both sides of The Atlantic and based in the #UK for over 25 years, I have equally noticed in Americans a verve and appetite for taking a leap where their #European counterparts hold back. While nice for my native country, having now lived on these shores for over two decades it leaves me frustrated that Americans and America outpace Europe and Europeans in the capacity to scale up businesses – with #funding secured – with pace and with as much magnitude as in the US.

Tarar’s posit to Europeans is to develop a bit of 'attitude,’ and self-inject the American raw #ambition and pioneering spirit.

What do you think?