I am an American founder that accidentally built a company in Europe.
I hired my first person there, and through the path of least resistance, most of our 45 person team is based in Europe.
I believe I am playing 'business' on easy mode compared to European founders.
As an American founder it's pretty easy for my US company to pay my European team as contractors.
European founders have to comply with European employment law.
In the country a lot of my team resides, here are the rules:
1. ~50% tax on W2 employees (we pay none)
2. Ability to take 1 year of maternity leave, available on day 1 of joining a company. Up to 2 years if there are complications.
3. 32 days of PTO standard for entry level roles
Here were my rules as an American founder / company hiring in Europe:
1. No employment tax because everyone is hired as a contractor
2. Today we have a 2 month paid policy after 2 years in our org. We're hoping to improve this as our company becomes more financially secure, but the liability at this stage of our organization is significant.
3. We offer 38 days of PTO today, but for the first year we didn't have an official PTO policy.
Building a startup in Europe as a European founder is very, very hard due to the above compliance requirements.
I hired my first person there, and through the path of least resistance, most of our 45 person team is based in Europe.
I believe I am playing 'business' on easy mode compared to European founders.
As an American founder it's pretty easy for my US company to pay my European team as contractors.
European founders have to comply with European employment law.
In the country a lot of my team resides, here are the rules:
1. ~50% tax on W2 employees (we pay none)
2. Ability to take 1 year of maternity leave, available on day 1 of joining a company. Up to 2 years if there are complications.
3. 32 days of PTO standard for entry level roles
Here were my rules as an American founder / company hiring in Europe:
1. No employment tax because everyone is hired as a contractor
2. Today we have a 2 month paid policy after 2 years in our org. We're hoping to improve this as our company becomes more financially secure, but the liability at this stage of our organization is significant.
3. We offer 38 days of PTO today, but for the first year we didn't have an official PTO policy.
Building a startup in Europe as a European founder is very, very hard due to the above compliance requirements.