[route66]

In a (possibly flawed) attempt to cheer you up: be aware that you basically say

- failing is frowned upon in Germany

- I do not want to run that risk

- so I will not try to start a company

Thereby effectively continuing the mantra "do nothing you could fail in".

I think that entrepreneurship has got a lot to do with "acting in spite of" and would not assume the situation in the US (I don't know personally) to be like there are happy parties where people are celebrating crashed businesses...

[stdbrouw]

Definitely agree. Belgium has a similar culture to Germany and despite mucking around quite a bit, none of my friends or family has ever made a disparaging remark about my entrepreneurial vagabondry. They probably think it's weird for me not to just go work for BigCorp, and it's not like I get a ton of support from them, but they do try to be encouraging even in the face of failure and they certainly don't frown upon it.

There's probably a kernel of truth to the idea that Americans are more entrepreneurial and less judgmental than your average European, but the idea that, in Europe, failure turns you into a pariah seems like a nasty myth that becomes real simply through repeated mentions.