Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow
I am an American founder that accidentally built a company in Europe.<p>I hired my first person there, and through the path of least resistance, most of our 45 person team is based in Europe.<p>I believe I am playing &#x27;business&#x27; on easy mode compared to European founders.<p>As an American founder it&#x27;s pretty easy for my US company to pay my European team as contractors.<p>European founders have to comply with European employment law.<p>In the country a lot of my team resides, here are the rules:<p>1.  ~50% tax on W2 employees (we pay none)<p>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.<p>3. 32 days of PTO standard for entry level roles<p>Here were my rules as an American founder &#x2F; company hiring in Europe:<p>1. No employment tax because everyone is hired as a contractor<p>2. Today we have a 2 month paid policy after 2 years in our org. We&#x27;re hoping to improve this as our company becomes more financially secure, but the liability at this stage of our organization is significant.<p>3. We offer 38 days of PTO today, but for the first year we didn&#x27;t have an official PTO policy.<p>Building a startup in Europe as a European founder is very, very hard due to the above compliance requirements.