[leononame]

In Germany specifically, but I'd guess it applies to most other countries as well, these strict rules apply once you have 11 employees. A lot of startups work with contractors anyways. And you can always fire people if your company needs it to survive.

As far as I'm aware, California has some of the strongest labor protection laws in the US, yet lots of startups. There's clearly more factors involved than labor protection laws, e.g. VC money, culture, etc.

Sure, stronger labor protection might be a result of cultural risk aversion. But I'd be very hesitant to call it "literally one aspect of how easy or hard it is to create a startup and get it somewhere"

[jajko]

I didn't say its the only aspect, just one of key ones. Bureaucracy must be another critical aspect, one reason why ie France or Italy are literally centuries behind with very little to no hope to ever catch up given its population priorities.

I agree with what you say, SV culture and sheer amount of startup-compatible talent plays a massive role too. Its a momentum that would take half a century of dedicated effort to even catch up.