Microsoft probably needs no introduction. But if you're not familiar with the Microsoft for Startups program, it's an initiative that provides select software entrepreneurs with free licenses and Azure credits over a period of three years.
It goes without saying that CEO Hans Yang is somewhat of an expert when it comes to identifying the ideas that make it to market and when it comes to the special drive he calls “founder energy.”
“For some founders, it’s immediate – you see it right away,” Yang tells TNW during an interview on Red Bull Basement Global Finals where he works as a judge. “You often see the hustle and bustle and see them clearly describing their vision.”
However, Yang adds that he believes there are just as many cases of brilliant technical minds where all the insight and depth is more in their heads. “They can express that in a product, an application or a service, but they don't necessarily know how to express that externally yet, and I think there's room for that type of founder as well.”
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And how can you unlock such a founder? “Honestly, it’s just access,” Yang says. “Of course there’s access to technology and tools, but I think it’s also about access to expertise – to the right experts and mentors.”
That's why competitions like Red Bull Basement, which offers finalists workshops on how to develop a compelling pitch and business model, and other initiatives (such as TNW Soonicorn summit) matter. “As Microsoft for startups, we can give them credits that can give them access to cloud computing and AI workloads and offset some of the costs,” says Yang.
“But we don't necessarily have the ability to tell them, 'Hey, when you approach an investor, make sure you're talking about the size of the problem and the potential market opportunity that you're going after and the way 'How you proceed is a pioneering role.' “I looked at the competition and think your solution is better because it is faster, more efficient, more powerful, etc.”
Europe's startup ecosystem simply needs time
In addition to an increasing discourse about technological and digital “sovereignty,” the discussion in Europe is also about how the continent’s startups are lagging behind their counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic.
Initiatives such as EU Inc, which seeks to create a pan-European legal entity to help startups expand across the bloc and raise funds more easily, lament the gap in maturity between the US and EU ecosystems.
Even confirmed Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in October this year that European companies “face far too many national barriers that make it difficult to operate across Europe and far too much regulatory burden.”
However, Yang is optimistic. He believes that as time goes on and alumni of successful startups return to build companies in their home countries (such as France's AI darling Mistral, founded by former DeepMind and Meta employees), the European tech startup ecosystem will focus on this The level of the European tech startup ecosystem will mature in the USA – similar to what happened in Taiwan.
“There has been a big movement to bring Taiwanese talent to the U.S.,” says Yang, who is of Taiwanese descent. “Both of my parents did graduate studies in the US, and they had a lot of classmates who came from Taiwan but then went back. And if you look at the semiconductor industry, a lot of it was basically built on the backs of boomerangs – people who went to the U.S. but then returned to their home country.”
When the Draghi report on the future of EU competitiveness was published in October this year, it cited an “innovation gap” as one of the main causes of the other areas in which the bloc is lagging behind. To address this gap, the EU has appointed its first-ever Startups Commissioner, tasked with “driving the ambition to put research and innovation, science and technology at the heart” of the EU economy. This includes creating a “trusted” network of deep tech investors across the continent.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that the European ecosystem is lagging behind from an innovation perspective,” says Yang. “I think when you talk about size and scale, that's true, but only because there are more cycles of venture investors investing in startups [in the US]. The ecosystem simply had more time to develop. So I think Europe honestly just needs time to have the winners – who then create the next generation of winners.”
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