If you're looking to launch a startup tech company, the Netherlands would like a word with you. Holland is known for its windmills and tulips and canals and Rembrandt and Van Gogh and Van Dyke and plain dykes…and now, since last year, you can add StartupDelta to that list - a not-for-profit public-private partnership created to kick-start projects based in one of the Netherlands’ dozen or so tech hubs including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Delft and Maastricht. The country bills itself as “Europe’s Best-Connected and Largest Ecosystem” for start-ups and aims to turn the Netherlands into the “Europe’s West Coast for Awesome Startups.” Sounds ambitious for a tiny windswept country under constant battle with rising sea levels, smaller than the state of Texas, on the fringes of Europe. It wasn’t named “The Netherlands” for nothing. But it’s precisely these shortcomings that once made the Netherlands a world power.
As far back as the beginning of the 17th century, engineers managed to hold back the sea with a sophisticated system of dykes. Dutch seafarers and entrepreneurs with huge naval and merchant shipping fleets were exploring and colonizing foreign lands long before the Mayflower reached Plymouth Rock. Global Dutch trading necessitated the creation of global banking and transport. Citizens accustomed to foreign goods and foreigners gave birth to a penchant for trade, commerce and an outward-reaching mentality which continues today. Rembrandt and Van Gogh created a tradition of creativity in which others still flourish. The country has some of the most egalitarian legislation and attitudes in the world: international companies incorporate here thanks to a lack of overly burdensome red tape; prostitution is legalized here, soft drugs are tolerated. Amsterdam remains a haven for counter-culturists. Scaling Up Startups But despite its laid-back contemporary atmosphere, the Netherlands remain serious about business. ‘We’re not talking about ‘lifestyle,’” StartupDelta leadership told reporters gathered in Amsterdam last month for The
Then there’s the competition with other locations already vying for the same bunch of startups and talent - notably Berlin and London, with Dublin and Stockholm edging in as well. “When we started, we wanted to be number one in Europe,” Neelie Kroes says. “But then we realized we could not replace London’s ability to access global financial markets, and our culture is simply different from that of Berlin, so we decided we want to be within the top three: London, Berlin, Amsterdam.” Not necessarily in that order, but Dutch startups have already raised some 80-Million Euros in Q1 of 2015, according to local estimates. Labor & The Good LIfe When you look at comparative measurements from the EU’s Knowledge Economy Index, you see that Amsterdam is #1 - outranking Berlin and London - in the available pool of qualified labor, and in Quality of Life. It shares the #1 position with London for intellectual property protection. And it boasts the Amsterdam Science Park, one of the largest collection of beta startup scientists in Europe, connecting business, education and research on a soon-to-be 66,000-square meter campus near the city’s 17th century historical district. On the labor pool front, besides having access to graduates of the country’s top-ranked universities, StartupDelta is happy to gather up the rejects from such tough companies who recruit online as Booking.com and Uber. “These companies say ‘no; to a lot of applicants,” StartupAmsterdam’s Nieuwenhuis says. “We reach out to these very well qualified ‘losers’ and direct them to our landing page with job listings where they can upload their LinkedIn profiles mentioning their interest in being contacted.” There are drawbacks, of course. My own random sample of business people point out the relatively high cost of housing, burgeoning overcrowding in Amsterdam, the Dutch penchant for bluntness which can be disconcerting, and the weather – for a country that is the world leader in flower-selling, it is surprisingly lacking in sunshine. Apparently all those rays of sunshine are being channeled into the business climate.