[benologist]

The internet is what lets companies aspire to become global quickly. Lots of countries have access to it and have fostered hugely popular products and companies because of it. Many startups in the US are busy dreaming of dominating local markets and selling out to global behemoths too. Especially in SV.

[rb808]

Agreed, but if you want a large world leading company you need a couple thousand people skilled & experienced in all sorts of professions. If you're in Helsinki or even Stockholm you just can't go out and hire such a large experienced teams let alone expect them to beat the world.

[benologist]

Rovio is from Helsinki. King.com from Stockholm. One of the Skype founders was Swedish and they HQ'd in Estonia. Unity3d from Denmark. Opera from Norway. Nokia from Finland. It's already happened and unlikely to be isolated incidences.

[rb808]

Nokia is the only company on that list that was large and that didn't last very long. I'm not trying to did Nordic companies, I'm just saying its difficult.

[benologist]

The billionaires King.com created probably disagree. Skype is still one of the most popular messaging platforms in the world, having been traded around a couple times now for $billions too.

USA had a first-mover advantage on internet access, but 20 years later many wealthy nations now have the necessary infrastructure ... a payment gateway, appstores, marketplaces, web hosting ... to flourish online.

[rb808]

King.com - part of an American company Skype - part of an American company Nokia - part of an American company Rovio - independent but tiny(?)

I'm not sure what we are arguing about. I think its clear that its difficult to build a world beating company in a smaller country. Yes they make great divisions and smaller branches, but I'm still not convinced its a good place to base an HQ.