<story><title>Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich&apos;s tech scene changed my view of SV</title><url>https://nextrends.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/forging-a-swiss-lens-3-ways-zurich-changed-my-view-of-silicon-valley/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>timewarrior</author><text>I have been involved with Swissnex and been advising Swiss startups for some time. I also go to Switzerland every other year if not every year and meet with startups there.&lt;p&gt;Things I noticed:&lt;p&gt;1. Incredibly smart people.&lt;p&gt;2. Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years.&lt;p&gt;3. Great work ethic and social responsibility.&lt;p&gt;4. Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda works against them. One of the founders was talking about an idea and was being very conservative with market size estimates. So I suggested to him - Think about how you can conquer the world. And his reply was - We are Swiss, we don&amp;#x27;t conquer the world.&lt;p&gt;I think one of the biggest challenge for Switzerland tech scene is that there is no viable immigration path for a non-EU citizen. Even after decades, you might not get a citizenship [1]. It makes it difficult for them to attract talent from outside, especially those with Silicon Valley experience.&lt;p&gt;Not that US is any better for Indians. Based on current estimates, if someone from India applies for an employment based Green Card now, they might get it in 70 years. And life is a pain because you have to do a lot of paperwork throughout.&lt;p&gt;If there was a viable immigration path in Switzerland, I would move there tomorrow!&lt;p&gt;1. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;naturalisation-controversy_american-professor-denied-swiss-citizenship&amp;#x2F;41075124&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;naturalisation-controversy_amer...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nextstep</author><text>Oh HN, how is this the top comment on this fantastic blog post about the huge lifestyle drawbacks from living in SV?&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; 2. Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years.&lt;p&gt;This was clearly written in earnest, but works better as a satirical joke about the inward-facing nature of bay area tech.  Please explain what &amp;quot;best technology and product building practices&amp;quot; means here, and how you can quantify that over time.  What were the best practices of early 2016 which are just now being implemented in Zurich-base startups?</text></comment>
<story><title>Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich&apos;s tech scene changed my view of SV</title><url>https://nextrends.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/forging-a-swiss-lens-3-ways-zurich-changed-my-view-of-silicon-valley/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>timewarrior</author><text>I have been involved with Swissnex and been advising Swiss startups for some time. I also go to Switzerland every other year if not every year and meet with startups there.&lt;p&gt;Things I noticed:&lt;p&gt;1. Incredibly smart people.&lt;p&gt;2. Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years.&lt;p&gt;3. Great work ethic and social responsibility.&lt;p&gt;4. Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda works against them. One of the founders was talking about an idea and was being very conservative with market size estimates. So I suggested to him - Think about how you can conquer the world. And his reply was - We are Swiss, we don&amp;#x27;t conquer the world.&lt;p&gt;I think one of the biggest challenge for Switzerland tech scene is that there is no viable immigration path for a non-EU citizen. Even after decades, you might not get a citizenship [1]. It makes it difficult for them to attract talent from outside, especially those with Silicon Valley experience.&lt;p&gt;Not that US is any better for Indians. Based on current estimates, if someone from India applies for an employment based Green Card now, they might get it in 70 years. And life is a pain because you have to do a lot of paperwork throughout.&lt;p&gt;If there was a viable immigration path in Switzerland, I would move there tomorrow!&lt;p&gt;1. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;naturalisation-controversy_american-professor-denied-swiss-citizenship&amp;#x2F;41075124&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;naturalisation-controversy_amer...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bogomipz</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;quot;I think one of the biggest challenge for Switzerland tech scene is that there is no viable immigration path for a non-EU citizen&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This is not true. It&amp;#x27;s up to the local canton to grant citizenship[1]. It has noting to do with EU vs non-EU either. Switzerland itself is not actually part of the EU[2]. For someone who visits so often, it seems odd that you don&amp;#x27;t know that. In fact even in the video in your link says that the same committee that rejected this person&amp;#x27;s citizenship awarded it to a Turkish individual and Turkey is not part of the EU.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;quot;Do not have world conquering ambitions&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Yes in the majority of the world this is actually considered quite normal and acceptable. Many would even say &amp;quot;preferable.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;becoming-a-citizen&amp;#x2F;29288376&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;becoming-a-citizen&amp;#x2F;29288376&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;europa.eu&amp;#x2F;european-union&amp;#x2F;about-eu&amp;#x2F;countries&amp;#x2F;member-countries_en&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;europa.eu&amp;#x2F;european-union&amp;#x2F;about-eu&amp;#x2F;countries&amp;#x2F;member-c...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>