I was making generalizations based on things I had heard from people I know in Europe. The things I said may not apply everywhere, but I know from coworkers overseas that they definitely apply to Germany, France, and Italy.
Having had a failed start-up myself in Germany, I take issue with the sentiment that equity isn't feasible as part of compensation. That usually comes from founders unwilling to work inside the legal framework to find a solution. And from investors, because paying employees with shares, that get deluded and take the second seat compared to investors, reduces HR costs for their portfolio companies.
> That usually comes from founders unwilling to work inside the legal framework to find a solution.
I appreciate your engagement, but this statement feels like it proves my point. In the US, startups have simple, standard, procedures for creating option pools for future employees. I had my own failed startup in the US, and never had to give a thought to how to structure equity compensation.
Same goes here, again ESOPs or RSUs. You do need the correct legal entity. And I don't see any reason why stock based compensation would be the main reason holding European start ups back.
Edit: Thinking of it, you can even do that with GmbH in Germany by handing out equity that is tied to to the employment, at least for directors and the like. Don't ask me about the details, obviously it never came to it in my case.
To be fair it is also not part of the culture in Europe. Most people who misses it are the one who've compare with the USA.
The USA is riddle with complex tax rules for investment and capital gains that makes those incomes interesting for an employee. That might not be necessarily true in Europe.
