The hashtag#EU just dropped a preview of its 2025–26 Startup & Scaleup Strategy
The hashtag#EU just dropped a preview of its 2025–26 Startup & Scaleup Strategy. Some parts are solid. Others felt already old.
So I ran the whole document through a hashtag#GPT called Mean VC, built by the brilliant Yohei Nakajima of Untapped Capital — it’s trained to poke holes in founder assumptions, and let’s just say it didn't hold back.
👉 Slide 2 hits hardest: “The US gives them money and exits. Europe gives them PDFs”.
Jokes aside, the strategy reflects genuine progress — and at least an awareness of Europe’s hashtag#fragmentation and hashtag#regulatory weight.
But speed, proximity, and execution still matter — and the hashtag#BayArea still dominates on all three.
At the same time, the world is shifting. hashtag#AI is unlocking a speed and scale that were never possible before: startups reaching mind blowing ARR in weeks or months, not years.
EU hashtag#founders can’t afford to wait years for less bureaucracy, more capital, faster go-to-market, and real exit paths.
The longer Europe delays, the more its founders will get outpaced — by the US and by new innovation hubs rising faster.
I'm a proud European living in the Bay Area and I believe in a more connected startup map. But for that to happen, we need fewer declarations — and more bridges.
What’s your take on the new proposed EU strategy?