YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

The State of the Union

Festival d’Europa

Firenze, Italia

May 10th 2011

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Turning Europe Young Again: The “Startup Revolution”

Dimitris TsigosPresident

YES – European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Youth of Europe

• Unemployment– It’s not the problem, it’s a symptom of the

problem– The recovery of the global economy has been

proven fragile

• The youth of Europe has to make a decision on their future– Shall we change things?

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

If Europe was a person

• Would probably be a very conservative person

• Also, a rather old person

• Old persons – usually – have lower dynamism, don’t like risk-taking, go the safe way

• Do we really like this Old Europe?

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Who is gonna create the necessary economic

dynamism?

The Youth of Europe!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

How?

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Very simple. By starting-up!

Startups are creating new jobs!

“Employment Boost: 83% of U.S. Startups Plan To Hire in 2011”

http://mashable.com/2011/04/22/startup-outlook/

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

We all need to start-up!

• We need to inspire CREATIVITY – In the educational system– In life-long learning– In the whole society

• It’s not fancy only to consume any more, it’s even fancier to produce!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Has the World realized the necessity to start-up?

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

What about the StartupEurope initiative?

We all look forward to it!

Let’s do it!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Are we really trying to start-up?

• VC Spending per capita– US: $100– EU: $10– Euro-zone: $5

– Israel: $250

• Israel alone invests more in VC than Germany, France & UK together

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Can we really start-up in Europe?

• According to EBAN – European Business Angels Network, the volume of early-stage investments in 2009 has been …– US: $18B– EU: 4B

• While EU27 GDP has been considerably higher than the US GDP

• Entrepreneurship can turn ‘Old Europe’ young again!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Why to Start-up?

“The mission of a company is to maximize shareholders value”

…as well as to get very high bonuses!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Sorry, not any more.

This model (thank God!) collapsed together with Lehman Brothers

Not sure that everybody has realized this fact.

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

So, what is it all about?

• Entrepreneurship was supposed to be just about making money

• Now it’s about materializing creativity!– It’s actually about happiness

• It’s about building a new kind of relationship with labor, based on the joy of creating!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

What’s the new key-word?

Sustainability!

We need to push for the “ecosystem approach” in European start-ups

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship & Education

• There is a missing link in the European educational & research system– R&D – Startups– Failure stories in the subsidized R&D projects

• We need to boost creativity in the educational system– Result orientation– Culture of failure!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

If you’re afraid of failing…

…then you simply don’t try!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Creating opportunities

• Short-term– Access to capital– Special focus to increased availability of risk financing

• Beware of the death valley!

• Mid-term– Access to market– Materialize the “Single European Market” concept for

enterprises• Long-term

– Entrepreneurial culture– Promotion of new development models based on the

regional competitive advantages & culture• The end of Fordism

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

So, is there a crisis after all?

Yes, but it’s not financial.

The crisis is political.

The solution can only be political!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

What about Europe?

No, the end of the world is not coming.

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

We must be optimistic!

• Europe is far more sustainable both from the US and from China– No over-debt, no over-consumption– Reasonable conditions in the labor market

• Mid-term we need to address the issue of political integration

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

The time to get Europe truly united is coming!

YES European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs

Thank you