Having explored the macro differences in ecosystems, we conclude our series with what founders can do about it. As an early-stage founder, you’re not just a spectator to the transatlantic differences – you can actively leverage the strengths of both the Bay Area and Europe. This final part focuses on the founder’s perspective: building your team, tapping talent pools, and making strategic moves so that you can benefit from Silicon Valley’s dynamism and Europe’s unique advantages. We’ll weave in some anecdotes from our VC meetings that highlight what investors look for in founding teams and how great founders navigate between the two worlds.
Building a World-Class Team (Without Breaking the Bank)
“Team, team, team.” Nearly every investor we spoke with echoed that the founding team is the single most important factor at early stage. Silicon Valley VCs often prefer two or three co-founders with complementary skills – for example, a technical/product guru paired with a business/sales hustler. In fact, 10VC explicitly noted they avoid solo founders when possible, citing data that solo founders face burnout ~3x more often. An ideal early team combines visionary innovation with execution ability. For founders, that means being honest about your gaps and recruit co-founders or early executives to fill them. If you’re a genius coder with no go-to-market experience, bring on someone who’s launched products and can talk to customers (and vice versa).
The Bay Area provides a clear advantage as it’s teeming with experienced startup veterans. You might find your perfect CTO or COO by networking in SF, where many talented folks are looking for the next exciting project. The density of talent is such that even niche expertise (growth hackers, developer evangelists, etc.) is available for hire or advising. However, competition (and cost) for that talent is sky-high in the Bay. Indeed, it is a buyers’ market to find team members or co-founders, as they can scour the market for better and more interesting startups. This is where the European advantage can come in. Europe has high-quality talent at a more affordable cost – especially in engineering. Numerous founders we know have taken a hybrid approach: keep a presence in Silicon Valley for leadership and maybe product strategy but building a development team in Europe where you can stretch your funding. For instance, one AI startup founder based in California hired a team of PhD-level AI researchers in Paris and Barcelona, capitalizing on the strong AI academic scene in those cities for a fraction of the cost of a San Francisco engineer. In our VC meetings, we even heard Sevilla, Spain mentioned as a “promising location for affordable, high-quality engineering talent”.
The key is to structure it right. Some U.S. VCs may initially be wary if they hear “our team is in Eastern Europe or India,” worrying about communication or commitment issues. But if you, as a founder, demonstrate that you have the culture and coordination down, investors can get comfortable with a distributed team. After all, remote and global teams are common now. We got a piece of hard advice though: one Silicon Valley investor bluntly said he doesn’t believe in “nearshoring to Europe” for core product development at the very earliest stage – his view was that the founding team (the key engineers and decision-makers) should be close by in the U.S. initially for better collaboration and access. That’s one perspective, but other VCs were more open as long as the talent was top-notch.
One more tip on team from the investors: clean up your cap table and avoid “dead equity.” Dead equity refers to shares held by former contributors who are no longer active. If you had a third co-founder who left, or you handed out generous equity to an advisor who isn’t contributing, address that before raising a big round. Several VCs warned that having a chunk of the company in the hands of someone not involved is a huge red flag. It signals potential team issues and wasted equity. Founders should be proactive – buy back or redistribute equity from anyone who’s departed or not pulling weight, so that new investors see a committed team with ownership properly allocated among those adding value.
Bridging Cultures and Mindsets
Founders who operate between Europe and Silicon Valley often find they need to adopt a chameleon-like mindset, comfortable in both cultures. Silicon Valley thrives on optimism and hype – you must be able to project confident ambition (some call it “hustle” or even “selling the dream”). European business culture can be more reserved; bold claims are met with more skepticism and modesty is valued. The best founders learn to speak both languages. When pitching U.S. investors or hiring in the Bay, exude what one VC called “humble confidence” – be bold about your vision and expertise, but open about what you don’t know and willing to learn. That mix of swagger and coachability goes a long way with American VCs who want founders that “know their stuff but are humble enough to seek help.”. Indeed, VCs often stressed that specific trait in founders, they should know when to accept and act on expert advice, while still remaining in the driving seat. In Europe, you might dial up the pragmatism slightly, emphasizing how you plan to achieve the vision and not just the end-state fantasy.
From our sessions, a memorable anecdote was a VC suggesting: “Ask a potential investor for references to a founder of a failed startup they funded.”. In other words, when choosing your investors (especially across cultures), do your own diligence on them. This is powerful: a founder’s edge is also in assembling the right support network. The Bay Area is full of smart money and some mercenary money; Europe likewise has some very founder-friendly funds and some that might be more hands-off. By picking your backers well (and not just taking the first check that comes), you set yourself up to navigate tough times with allies who have your back.
Another cultural navigation point: ownership vs. partnership mentality. U.S. investors often insist on standard terms and clean, Delaware-style governance (eg C-corp). One U.S. VC commented that if a term sheet or shareholder agreement has unusual clauses (multiple liquidation preferences, excessive controls, etc.), it’s a deal-breaker – they want plain vanilla terms. The only one who gets preferred shares in Mark Zuckerberg, if you’re not him, forget about it! European deals sometimes involve more investor protective provisions or government stake involvement (like golden shares in some countries). As a founder, to attract U.S. capital, try to keep your company structure and terms as straightforward as possible. Many European startups pre-emptively incorporate in the U.S. or a UK entity, even if operations are elsewhere, to ease this. It’s not always necessary, but it shows you’re thinking ahead. The founder’s edge here is being bilingual in legal/finance structures: understand SAFEs and Delaware law for U.S. deals, as well as local EU regulations for grants or incentives.
Tactical Moves: From Advisory Boards to Location Hacks
During our meetings, we gathered a grab-bag of tactical tips that can give founders an edge. Here are a few worth noting:
- Advisory Boards for Credibility: Especially for European founders aiming to impress U.S. investors (or enterprise customers), building a credible advisory board can help. This was suggested by multiple VCs: having a few industry veterans or respected academics as formal advisors can derisk your startup in the eyes of outsiders. For example, if you’re doing a fintech startup in Germany, an advisor who is a former PayPal executive or a well-known fintech professor adds gravitas. But be careful – advisors should be active and truly helpful. VCs can sniff out a “trophy” advisor who isn’t actually involved. It was recommended to grant a small equity stake (0.1–0.25% typically, with a vesting schedule) to advisors who open doors or provide real guidance. And if they’re not contributing, don’t hesitate to part ways. An engaged advisory board can not only give you good advice but also signal to investors that seasoned people believe in you enough to stake their name on it.
- Incorporate and Register Smartly: If you’re a European startup planning to do business in the U.S. or raise there, consider incorporating in the U.S. (Delaware C-corp is the gold standard for tech startups) and making your European entity a subsidiary. This is a common route to avoid potential friction with U.S. VCs who may be unfamiliar with, say, a German GmbH or a French SA structure. Additionally, take advantage of Europe’s R&D-friendly schemes. Using these schemes doesn’t cost you anything and can bring in early funding more easily. Just ensure that by the time you go for a big international round, your corporate structure is clean and investor-friendly (often via that U.S. parent company model).
- Location as a Strategy: Some founders literally move to maximize advantages – a term sometimes called being a “transatlantic founder.” For example, you as CEO might relocate to San Francisco for a year to raise the company’s profile and fundraise, while your co-founder keeps the home base running in Europe. We’ve seen startups where the CEO gets an apartment in Silicon Valley, joins local accelerators or founder groups, and basically becomes part of the scene, even if much of the team remains in Europe. This can be the best of both worlds if done right: you get the networking, firsthand market access in the U.S., and you maintain your cost-effective operations and loyalty to your home ecosystem. Many investors noted that European founders who spend time in the U.S. often undergo a mindset shift – thinking bigger, moving faster – which can be infectious for the whole team. Just be mindful of the practical challenges: time zone differences, travel costs, and keeping the team cohesive when leadership is split. It requires effort in communication (regular all-hands, flying team members back and forth occasionally, etc.), but it can pay off by unlocking opportunities on both continents.
- Leverage Trust and Compliance as Selling Points: We talked about how European startups sometimes suffer under heavy regulations – but there’s a flip side: compliance can be a competitive advantage. If your product is more trustworthy or privacy-preserving because it was built in Europe’s strict regime, trumpet that fact. European consumers (and increasingly, global consumers) do value privacy and security. An EU-based cloud service can pitch itself as “GDPR-compliant by design, your data stays in Europe.” In sectors like fintech or health tech, having navigated Europe’s regulatory hurdles can actually make you more robust when entering the U.S. market. Founders should embrace this in storytelling: rather than viewing EU regulations purely as a burden, position your startup as battle-tested in one of the toughest regulatory environments. It builds credibility. One enterprise VC from Acrew mentioned that their U.S. portfolio companies often look to Europe for best practices in data governance – so European founders, lean into that expertise.
- Continuous Learning and Network Building: Finally, a softer but crucial point: never stop building your network on both sides. Join founder communities in Europe (e.g., local accelerators, entrepreneur meetups) and tap into diaspora networks (for instance, FrenchTech in SF, DutchTechX in SF or TechBBQ for Nordic founders, etc.). Many European founders who broke into Silicon Valley did so via fellow Europeans who were already there and opened doors. Simultaneously, when you’re in the Bay Area, connect with other international founders – there’s a camaraderie in being from elsewhere trying to make it in the Valley, and folks tend to help each other out. Similarly, U.S. founders expanding to Europe often seek local insight – you can trade knowledge. Basically, be global in your networking. The strongest founders we know can navigate a VC conference in California one week and a EU tech summit the next, making friends and contacts in both.
