[fakedang]

Apotheker is basically everything wrong with the EU non-startup tech scene today. Not him personally per se, but you see a lot of characters like him on a much more regular basis in EU companies than you will find in US companies.

These kinds of folks only seem to fail upwards in the EU, whereas in the US, they would have been laughed out.

[Twirrim]

I think you've got some "grass is greener on the other side" thinking going on there. There's lots of people just like him, failing upwards in US tech.

[fakedang]

Obviously there are. But you still have a higher proportion of engineer types leading multinational companies, whether they are tech or finance businesses, etc. In Europe, except for France (thanks to the Grand Ecole system), I have yet to see a large proportion of companies where non-founder leadership also has a technical or engineering bent.

[impjohn]

Interesting thought. Do you have any anecdotes regarding it? Seems you're basing it off personal experience or something you've heard many times, curious to know what that is

[fakedang]

Mostly from personal experience and interacting with a lot of them, who form their little boy's clubs. It's especially bad in German Europe and Italy where the vast majority of leadership of extremely technical companies are largely business or law graduates.