Growth issues: Do European software founders lack the confidence to scale?

Does the European software industry have a problem? At first glance, no. Although we Europeans - and I include my home territory of the UK in this group - have gotten off to a slow start compared to the US, investor money is flowing into startups, unicorns are being created and, ultimately, this should fuel a growing number of truly world-leading digital businesses.

Certainly that is what decision-makers would like to believe when they talk optimistically about the creation of the next Facebook, Google or Adobe on European soil.

But according to Phill Robinson, the European ecosystem still fails to support software companies on their journey from ambitious startup to global leader. With a resume that includes time as a CMO at Salesforce and various CEO roles in the Bay Area, Robinson founded Boardwave, a nonprofit for software leaders. By connecting personalities from the corporate world with their counterparts in the startup and scale-up communities, its intention is for experienced leaders to provide founders and early-stage business leaders with guidance, support and the confidence they need to grow.

But given the progress software startups and scale-ups have made in recent years, is there really a problem to solve?

Experience sharing

“The problem is that there is a huge amount of knowledge and expertise in the European software industry, but it is not easy to access it if you are the founder of a young company” , he said.

Compare and contrast with the Bay Area. "In Silicon Valley, they've had tremendous success building big software companies," he continues. “In Europe, we talked about the lack of access to capital. That's no longer the problem. One of the problems is that people don't share their expertise."

It's partly a matter of geography. "Silicon Valley is 40 miles long and everyone knows each other," says Robinson. But there are also cultural factors. “People call each other. They share their ideas,” he adds.

But do the differences between Europe and Silicon Valley really matter in terms of results?

Boardwave's press release cites raw statistics to illustrate the gap between the US and Europe. For example, there are no European companies in the world's top ten software publishers. This is actually open to debate given the presence of Germany's SAP on most lists, but it's certainly true that otherwise the US dominates. And overall, European software companies make up only 30% of any of the big four Americans.

Now, you could say that the success of American companies is partly due to history and geography. The industry is older and more established. As a result, ecosystems - in the Bay Area and elsewhere - are better developed. In addition, American companies benefit from a huge domestic market. They can do a lot of growth before they have to go global.

A matter of trust

That raises a question. Is there a real causal link between success and the willingness to share expertise and ideas?

Robinson says that without the support of business leaders who know what it takes to grow world-class businesses, founders often lack the confidence to carry on. So instead of continuing to grow, they run their businesses until they reach a certain size and then they sell themselves, often to a foreign rival. Thus, the European Google never emerges.

So, is there anything we can do? It must be said that governments and their agencies do a lot to provide founders with the support they need through mentorship and education. And there are already industry organizations that facilitate support and mentoring.

Robinson's goal is to create an industrial platform to provide assistance that relies on heavyweights. Patrons include Stephen Kelly, former CEO of Sage; Leo Apotheker, form...