[mattrighetti]

> The exodus of tech talent and lack of startup creation in Italy has worried investors

From my experience I can tell that most people here don't want to waste time in a startup with its high risk factor, and it's even more worrying if you come from a college environment where you expect that _Let's do this, I don't care_ kind of attitude. The majority of new grads prefer a secure (and most of the time underpaid) position to pay the bills at the end of the month. It's saddening to see but a lot of my friends, super smart ones included, just opt for low level companies that will never make them grow and will give them the minimum amount of money to make a living (that's what they tell me) while in pretty much the rest of UE they will pay 3x that amount.

I think the mentality in Italy is totally different, I know only one person that would have jumped in the startup world at the time and quickly got discouraged because he didn't know how to get funded (probably not the first thing I would consider if I think I have a great idea). The rest of my colleagues wouldn't even want to listen to startup ideas.

Also, I think we Italians don't have the market for new tech related startup, our population is very old and they don't really care about new stuff/services coming out as you would expect, launching in the US would be a totally different story.

It's a multi variable problem, the lack of ideas is just the tip of the iceberg. It's not that there is a startup creation problem, it's that the few people that want to try out the startup world are smart enough to do it elsewhere where higher chances of success lie.

And don't get me started on the bureaucracy part, I'm not well informed on that because I'm pretty sure it would just waste my time.

[kungito]

My impression was that in the US you get compensated pretty nicely while in a startup. The whole idea is to get funded so that you can attract talent with crazy salaries. Or did I get something wrong?

[sethhochberg]

It varies a lot based on the stage of company you are joining. Very small startups often pay relatively little in cash and rely on equity to attract talent, because the early stage hires are at least theoretically interested in the vision and potential upside of the business growing, and cashflow is tight at early stage companies.

Larger, later stage startups tend to rely less on equity and more on cash because the equity gets pretty diluted pretty quickly - there’s an awkward middle ground where there may still be plenty of uncertainty about whether the business will survive to an exit/IPO/etc despite some success, but where any shares you got aren’t necessarily enough to make up for low salary if one of those things happens. That middle ground is where large cash comp makes the most sense.

But broadly speaking, yes, tech startup salaries in the US trend high.

[b20000]

yeah, and then you get charged nicely by your landlord, health insurance companies, the tax man, and a million other people for basic shit.

[zoobab]

"> The exodus of tech talent and lack of startup creation in Italy has worried investors"

Working hard for investors and shareholders!

[skrbjc]

The relationship between people who build companies and work in those companies can be mutually beneficial with investors.