Ask HN: Where in European Union should I move to found a startup?

8 points

10 years ago

I am a citizen of Russia, but for long time I had been working as an independent contractor for my overseas clients. Currently I am living on Cyprus with my family. I've been thinking about starting my own business in IT industry or areas connected to tech since my freelance career start 7 years ago. Now, in my early thirties, I have a feeling that I must make next step by stretching my knowledge as I want to achieve goals and quench my thirst for passion about what I am doing, financial freedom, fame, power, all things that make a man happy and satisfied.

I have some ideas that I am crystallizing and researching their profitability, sustainability, ability to grow and supply my demands of self-realization. One of projects I have in my mind now is a product to automate agriculture by providing a hardware & software platform to small farms that are numerous in European countries [1].

In researches for this product I am looking at the investment sources and see that there are public programmes for development of agriculture sector [2]. I think, my product could fall into one of categories of interest for these programmes.

My plan is to immigrate to Finland as an entrepreneur. It appeals to me to start a business, having transparent communication with authorities, clear tax schemes, emerging high-tech industry.

I am aimed to spread the product to other EU countries' farms that could get profit of it.

- Having the general picture of my vision and plans, can you please share your thoughts about my decision to move to Finland in relates to work on my startup?

- Is it a viable option to move to Finland to found a tech startup or am I wrong here? Should I look for other options?

- Is it possible for an immigrant entrepreneur to count for public programmes as a source of funding or publicity?

[1] https://epthinktank.eu/2013/04/12/young-farmers-in-the-european-union/fig-3-2/