Ole Lehmann Profile picture
Nov 13, 2024 23 tweets 7 min read Read on X
I'm German.

16 years ago, the EU and US economies were neck and neck.

Today, the US economy is 50% larger than the entire EU combined.

Here's the devastating truth behind Europe's ongoing economic suicide 🧵: Image
Image
First, let's look at the numbers:

• US GDP: $25.5 trillion
• EU GDP: $16.6 trillion

But in 2008, they were nearly equal.

What the hell happened over the past 16 years?

It's simple:
Europe chose security over growth.
America chose innovation over regulation.

The results?

America has produced 9 trillion-dollar companies (9/10 of the most valuable companies in the world).

Europe? ZERO. Nowhere to be found: Image
But it goes deeper than numbers...

European talent is fleeing en masse.

I see most European entrepreneurs choosing between two paths:

• The US for higher salaries ($350k+ tech jobs)
• Southeast Asia for lower cost of living to build startups

Why? Image
Because Europe made it impossible to win at home.

Take Berlin's startup scene (where I used to live):

Founders are often viewed with suspicion. "Entrepreneur" = exploiter

I witnessed tech founders being called "capitalist parasites" at local meetups. Image
Meanwhile in places like Silicon Valley and NYC:

Founders are celebrated. Risk-taking is rewarded.
Failure is seen as education, not embarrassment.

To make matters even worse... Image
Europeans are drowning in red tape:

• Employment laws making hiring/firing impossible
• Tax rates crushing small businesses
• Compliance costs killing innovation

To start a company in France takes 84 days
In America? 4 days. Image
Even French president Emmanuel Macron admits it.

When comparing Europe to the American and Chinese markets, he said: Image
The anti-innovation mindset is killing Europe.

For example, when Elon Musk built Giga Berlin, Germans protested:

"No techno-colonialism"

Tesla almost cancelled the project due to regulatory hurdles and community opposition.

This happens daily with smaller companies too.
Europe's regulatory culture created an economic spiral of doom:

• Talent leaves
• Companies avoid investing
• Innovation dies
• Economy stagnates
• More regulation follows

This is why memes like "Europoors" exist. Image
The numbers are brutal:

• 90% of EU tech talent would move to US for right offer
• European tech salaries: 50% lower than US
• Startup funding: 5x higher in US

And Europe's few tech successes?
Most of them move to America:

• Spotify (now NYC-based)
• Klarna (major US operations)
• ARM (being acquired by NVIDIA)

The theme here is obvious: Image
While Europe debates the ethics of AI...
America builds it.

While Europe regulates cryptocurrencies...
America innovates them.

While Europe protects old industries...
America creates new ones.
The solution? In my eyes, Europe must:

1. Slash regulations
2. Embrace risk-taking
3. Support entrepreneurs
4. Lower taxes on innovation

But will they?
As a European, I unfortunately doubt it.

The regulation addiction is too deep.
The anti-business culture too ingrained.

As one French friend/entrepreneur told me:

"I love Europe, but I can't build my future here. The system won't let me." Image
This is why America keeps winning.

Not because Americans are smarter.

But because their system benefits those who build. Image
Europe has become a museum:

• Great at preserving the past
• Terrible at building the future

Unless Europe slashes regulations and embraces risk-taking, the gap will only widen.

As a German, this pains me deeply. I love Europe...
The rich culture and history.
The incredible cuisine.
The best techno scene on Earth.

The fact a 2-hour flight takes you to new worlds with new language, new culture, new country.

I'm rooted here. Image
But beneath this beautiful diversity lies a common problem:

Every European country shares the same anti-entrepreneurship mindset.

It doesn't matter if you're in Berlin, Paris, or Stockholm...

The system is designed to hold builders back. Image
This is forcing a generation of Europeans to make an impossible choice:

Stay in a culture we love but can't build in?

Or leave everything behind to chase opportunity?
The question isn't if Europe will fall behind. It already has.

It's on its way to irrelevancy. And its a reason why I'm currently looking to move out of the continent.

The real question is....

Will they change course before its too late? Image
Btw, I share more magic-internet-money making insights like these in my newsletter.

Over the past 16 months, I've generated:

• $650,000+
• 220,000+ followers across all platforms

Join 40,000+ solopreneurs learning how here (100% free): aisolopreneur.beehiiv.com
wen DOGE EU? @elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy

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Mar 31
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It's a $309B Danish pharmaceutical that literally warped its nation's GDP.

One weekly injection SO powerful that celebrities can't stop abusing it.

The untold story of how Novo Nordisk conquered obesity 🧵: Image
Image
In 1989, Novo Nordisk formed as a merger between 2 small Danish insulin makers.

But in 2017, everything changed.

They received FDA approval for Ozempic - a diabetes medication that helps control blood sugar.

But during trials, something unexpected happened:
Patients were losing significant weight without trying.

Unlike countless failed diet pills, Ozempic works differently:

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As one user described: Image
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Mar 31
China spent $41B trying to copy this Dutch technology.

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Now a tiny town in the Netherlands controls the:

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• Every advanced military system

The untold story of how ASML became the most critical company in tech 🧵: Image
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First, let's understand what makes ASML special:

• They make machines that make computer chips
• Closest competitor is 10+ years behind
• Complete monopoly on advanced chip tech
• Every major tech company depends on them

But here's what makes this story fascinating...
ASML started in 1984 as a joint venture between Phillips and ASM International.

For years, they were just another equipment maker.

Then something changed everything:

Researchers realized we were hitting the limits of chip manufacturing.

Moore's Law was about to hit a wall. Image
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Mar 30
I'm from the EU.

Silicon Valley says AI innovation is impossible in Europe.

Too much red tape. Too little funding.

But these 9 European AI companies are changing the narrative: Image
🇪🇸 Magnific AI

The best AI image-upscaler on the internet.

Acquired 5 months after launch. 725K users, zero ad spend.

Acquired by Freepik because the tech was that good.

Shows European startups can move FAST when they nail product-market fit. Image
🇬🇧 ElevenLabs

$180M+ raised at a $3.3B valuation. Making AI voices that actually sound human.

Started with audiobooks, now they're the voice layer for most AI apps you use daily. 32 languages, best-in-class voice synthesis.

(Their mobile app is actually insane - try it) Image
Read 13 tweets
Mar 29
"The dubbing in Polish was so bad, we had to build an AI company to fix it."

— 2 engineers from Poland

Now their unicorn startup is worth $1.1 BILLION, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, and changing how humanity interacts with audio.

Inside the incredible rise of ElevenLabs 🧵 Image
When childhood friends Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski watched American movies in Poland, they were frustrated by the terrible dubbing:

One monotone male voice talking over ALL characters.

This childhood frustration sparked a billion-dollar idea.

Fast forward to 2022... Image
Piotr (ex-Google ML engineer) and Mati (ex-Palantir strategist) launched ElevenLabs with a bold mission:

Create AI voices so realistic, so emotionally intelligent, they'd be indistinguishable from humans.

Not just another tech project:
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Mar 28
Europe has 2 devastating energy problems:

• 100,000+ tons of dangerous nuclear waste
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A brilliant team of nuclear physicists just raised €535M to solve BOTH with revolutionary reactors.

How Newcleo could fix Europe's energy crisis 🧵 Image
Image
Founded in 2021 by CERN physicist Stefano Buono, Newcleo is tackling these twin crises with a truly revolutionary solution:

Nuclear reactors that actually RUN ON the waste from old nuclear plants.

Something you probably don't know:
Regular nuclear plants only use about 5% of their uranium fuel.

The rest becomes "waste" that must be stored in expensive underground facilities for thousands of years.

Newcleo flips this completely by using this leftover waste as its primary fuel source.

You might be thinking:Image
Read 18 tweets
Mar 27
European AI is having a moment.

This tiny Stockholm startup just became the FASTEST growing in European history:

$17M ARR. In only 90 DAYS.

While Silicon Valley sleeps on European tech...

Lovable built "the last piece of software" you'll ever need.

Here's how they did it 🧵: Image
Image
First, meet the brains behind this revolution:

Anton Osika: Built award-winning algorithms at Sana Labs, co-founder Depict .ai (raised $20M)

Fabian Hedin: Inventor who literally created Stephen Hawking's computer interface

Their big idea is simple but game-changing: Image
Less than 1% of people can code.

Yet software powers EVERYTHING in our modern world.

That's insane.

Lovable fixes this by letting you create REAL apps just by describing what you want.

The origin story shows European innovation at its best:
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