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Marcus: Mid-sized European markets are the worst size for scaling tech startups

David Marcus · David Marcus: How I Came to Lead PayPal; Why FB's Crypto Failed; How AI Fixes Inequality | E1001 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Apr 14, 2023 · at 9:18

David Marcus, co-founder and CEO of Lightspark and former President of PayPal, discusses the structural challenges European founders face compared to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs when trying to scale global tech companies.

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“But the reason I think it's harder is because, you know, if you start, let's say in France, then you have an addressable market that is, you know, basically the worst size, right? Because it's actually too big for you to branch out early. But too small for you to build a world or global defining company. And so you're kind of stuck in this world and every time you need to branch out and go to another market, it's a different culture, a different language.”

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