Talking About "Hedge" with European Audiences

European Straits #89

Dear all,

I’m spending 36 hours in Berlin, where I talked about my book Hedge last night at The Family’s stunningly beautiful office in Kreuzberg (I know, I’m biased 😜). The format was a fireside chat with Sandro Gianella, the head of policy for Stripe in Europe. The audience was mostly entrepreneurs, as it seems hard here in Germany to build bridges with other circles like government, the press, and academia.

As it’s now been several weeks of traveling and talking about Hedge in 🇬🇧London, 🇫🇷Paris, 🇨🇭Geneva, 🇨🇭Zurich, and now 🇩🇪Berlin, I thought I’d share some early impressions.

Talking about Hedge with European audiences

I usually open my talks by reminding the audience how hard it is for entrepreneurs to grow successful startups in Europe. Not only are there the fragmentation and the lack of resources such as talent and capital, but there’s also the active resistance from corporate incumbents and the government. An entire system seems to have been designed to preserve the sta…