EU is making it impossible for startups to operate

4 July, 2018 · 515 likes · 166 retweets

Europe Entrepreneurship Privacy Tech eu/acc

Cookie law (2013)
VATMOSS (2016)
GDPR (2018)
EU Copyright (2019)

EU is making it impossible for startups to operate. That’s the same businesses it’s lacking in and trying to attract. 🤷‍♀️

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180703/01343440162/latest-text-eu-copyright-directive-shows-even-worse-than-expected-must-be-stopped.shtml

Originally posted on X

P.S. I'm on Twitter too if you'd like to follow more of my stories. And I wrote a book called MAKE about building startups without funding. See a list of my stories or contact me. To get an alert when I write a new blog post, you can subscribe below:

2026

26 MayMy friend's Lisbon office got burglarized and Portuguese police refused to recover his Airtagged Apple display 𝕏
25 MayLeiden might be the best Dutch city to visit instead of tourist Amsterdam 𝕏
17 MayBarcelona has drug dens and violent crime in El Raval that Google Maps won't show 𝕏
15 MayIgnoring mind viruses leads to a slippery slope of meat allergies from engineered ticks 𝕏
9 MayMost EV chargers in Portugal are out of service thanks to EU subsidies 𝕏
5 MayMy gf banned from reviewing places on Google Maps in Europe after one 1-star review 𝕏
30 AprWinning my first big Stripe dispute in a decade with a vibe coded responder 𝕏
23 AprClaude was dumbified on March 4 exactly when we noticed 𝕏
16 AprEuropeans are all captivated by the mind virus 𝕏
1 AprApril fool's pizzas in US are real pizzas in Brazil 𝕏
28 MarGive us more data to make sure it's you after we've been breached 𝕏
27 MarArgentinean meat is one of the worst in the world now 𝕏
26 MarChatControl is back with a vengeance 𝕏
16 MarThe irony that traveling on less than $1000 a month is more fun than luxury travel 𝕏
16 MarQuake III server now runs in the browser 7 years later 𝕏
28 FebI ran Claude Code on the server in bypass mode and outran my todo list 𝕏
24 FebHow to build a bootstrapped startup without funding 𝕏
21 Feb1983 Wall Street Raiders game reverse engineered from 115000 lines of BASIC 𝕏
16 FebAdded dark mode to my http proxy for reading on kindle 𝕏
9 FebThings in your house slowly poisoning you and what to change them to 𝕏
7 FebVisiting Brazil's biggest indie hacker meetup 𝕏
5 FebMy dad the cardiologist got free family holidays from Pfizer to prescribe their drugs 𝕏
4 FebMy friend on SSRIs tried to convince me I have generational trauma 𝕏
15 JanThe era of fake e-girl influencers has started 𝕏
3 JanMap of South America as the United States of Amazonia 𝕏

2025

23 DecI glued an AirTag to a yogurt box to track if recycling is real 𝕏
23 DecThe oceans are full of plastic exactly because you recycle 𝕏
14 DecQatar Airways business class gets you special arrival reception at Doha 𝕏
14 DecWhy Koreans didn't get richer 𝕏
13 DecAmap is my favorite navigation app in China 𝕏
13 DecChinese EVs are beating German cars with better software and innovation 𝕏
13 DecNIO is another very popular EV brand in China 𝕏
11 DecAdvice i give 5 minutes after meeting somebody new 𝕏
9 DecThe European Commission is the cancer rotting the EU from within 𝕏
5 DecChongqing looks gray and derelict without its night lights and needs better maintenance 𝕏
4 DecChinese high speed trains are now faster than the Japanese Shinkansen 𝕏
4 DecArriving in Chongqing and China's LED lit skyline versus Europe saving energy 𝕏
4 DecI took the high speed train in China today 𝕏
4 DecWestern double standards on China versus Japan city lights 𝕏
3 DecChina's train security is stricter than TSA 𝕏
3 DecGetting the China flu after arriving and why to wear an N95 on planes 𝕏
3 DecNever bring a knife to China because DHL and customs make shipping impossible 𝕏
29 NovI got the China cough after 4 days in China 𝕏
29 NovRich BigTech wives destabilizing society from 2016 to 2023 via giant NGO donations 𝕏
28 NovChinese brands replacing Western brands in China 𝕏
28 NovRentable powerbanks in China scan with Alipay but would get stolen in US or Europe 𝕏
28 NovWestern people used in Chinese marketing to represent quality 𝕏
27 NovBeijing uses robot arms at toll booths 𝕏
27 NovChina airport confiscated our power banks without CCC certification 𝕏
27 NovThe Russian connection in China doesn't stop 𝕏
27 NovWoke up in Beijing's Summer Palace built in 1750 as a birthday gift 𝕏
26 NovGot Alipay to work in China as proxy for Didi Meituan and Baidu 𝕏
26 NovRussians are traveling to China a lot because they're blocked from most places 𝕏
26 NovI started lifting weights at 30 and gained 30kg of muscle 𝕏
25 NovChina isn't easy to travel 𝕏
17 NovOnly the US and China have actual substantial startup activity now 𝕏
10 NovSingapore too is now compromised by degrowthers 𝕏
29 SepGet a VPS at Hetzner already 𝕏
28 SepCounter-law to let all European citizens read any EU politician's chats 𝕏
18 SepIt turns out Mark Manson was mostly right about Brazil 𝕏
25 AugCorrelation between screen size and your importance in the company 𝕏
19 Jul10g of creatine per day 𝕏
6 JulChinese pigs are treated better than the average European 𝕏
5 JulSilence is high IQ 𝕏
22 JunI made a trailer for the future of humanity (e/acc) 𝕏
17 JunSouth Asian immigrants in Portugal game welfare for passports and EU access 𝕏
15 JunI randomly discovered Dubai has an absolutely massive solar farm 𝕏
21 MayVisiting my API provider FAL in San Francisco 𝕏
11 MayVisiting OpenAI's office in San Francisco and seeing the city's improvements 𝕏
28 AprElectricity is down in entire Portugal and Spain peninsula 𝕏
10 AprAndrej Karpathy visited my weekly coworking in Portugal 𝕏
9 AprSo Trump is vibe presidenting 𝕏
28 MarBeing an entrepreneur now has more job security than a job 𝕏
25 MarWhat ChatGPT says the devil would do to keep an entire nation sick 𝕏
4 MarWhat's crazy when you read about Taiwan Semiconductors is you realize Nvidia are essentially dropshippers 𝕏
25 FebFull multiplayer Python websockets game built almost 100% by AI 𝕏
16 FebMan investigated after calling German vice-chancellor ‘idiot’ 𝕏
29 JanWe need a federal union of Europe to compete with US and China 𝕏
26 JanEuropeans have collective memory loss from just 35 years ago 𝕏
19 JanDating apps don't work in 2025 so meet people through hobbies and friends 𝕏
17 JanMeeting Bryan Johnson at Din Tai Fung and his don't die health cult 𝕏
9 JanThe Brazilian real currency should be on crypto exchanges because it's the biggest shitcoin ever 𝕏

2024

29 DecThe only planes left with zero fatal accidents now 𝕏
22 DecA tractor is a great parallel to AI because it helps people do their work easier and faster 𝕏
19 DecRenting saves you money over buying if you own the house for less than 15 years 𝕏
18 DecSelf driving cars react 150x faster than a human driver 𝕏
9 DecI got 1 billion views on X in the last 12 months 𝕏
9 DecBoth a16z and YC's request for startups for 2025 just came out 𝕏
2 DecOnlyFans just hacked basic human biology 𝕏
26 NovStarted lifting at 30 and that has avoided the pains most of my in-thirties friends have 𝕏
24 NovEurope's end game might be to become like Japan a cheap tourist destination 𝕏
22 NovMy minimal solo founder setup with 100% automation and 99% profit margins 𝕏
12 NovLift weights to grow neurons MIT study shows 𝕏
1 NovThe difference between free users and paying users is about 1000x from my experience 𝕏
1 NovWhat is happening to Google now is pretty much textbook of what happened to Xerox PARC, but worse 𝕏
1 NovSundar Pichai fumbled Google's AI head start and it'll be studied for decades 𝕏
31 OctRent an empty office space and invent the future 𝕏
6 OctEvery European with talent moves to the US for startups or Bali and Chiang Mai for indie hacking 𝕏
6 OctMacron warns EU has only 2 or 3 years before total US and China dominance 𝕏
5 OctThe poor get free gov money the rich avoid taxes and the middle class gets rekt 𝕏
2 OctSurround yourself with builders not talkers 𝕏
30 SepTravel and fitness are two of the most important things you can do for your brain 𝕏
26 SepMet Sam Altman at OpenAI office in San Francisco 𝕏
26 SepSam Altman will give himself 7% of OpenAI worth $10.5B 𝕏
23 SepNomad list is one of the first network states 𝕏
22 SepI hit a new $420,000/mo revenue record thanks to the Lex Fridman podcast 𝕏
16 SepThierry Breton resigns after EU AI Act and DSA criticism 𝕏
12 SepArresting Jack Ma was the dumbest thing China has ever done 𝕏
9 SepMy recommendations for mario draghi's EU competitiveness report 𝕏
5 SepBali broke ground on a subway that will connect the entire island 𝕏
5 SepGoogle APIs are the worst APIs on the web to work with 𝕏
31 AugEuropean founder had to move to the US to build a humanoid robot company 𝕏
25 AugPavel Durov arrested in France 𝕏
24 AugI still meet programmers who are not using AI to code 𝕏
24 AugThe web development industrial complex has lied to your face 𝕏
20 AugLex Fridman interviewed me 𝕏
19 AugApple Maps vs Google Maps in 2024 𝕏
19 AugI made a deadlift ETF with CEOs that lift weights or fight sports outperforming the S&P 500 by 140% 𝕏
8 AugI only wear Alo Yoga shorts but they are made from polyester that disrupts your endocrine system 𝕏
8 AugSomeone needs to invent cotton yoga shorts 𝕏
6 AugEurope's governments made energy expensive on purpose to stop you from using it 𝕏
5 AugCould air conditioning explain why more top US companies were founded after 1950 than in the EU? 𝕏
5 AugIn Bali the heat puts your brain into power save idle mode 𝕏
5 AugIf you wanna get rich install AC 𝕏
30 JulAmazon is a showroom for Aliexpress which is a showroom for Taobao 𝕏
28 JulI'm on 6 grams of creatine per day for the last 2 years 𝕏
24 JulFinally met my hero Patrick Collison founder of Stripe 𝕏
13 JulThierry Breton represents 100+ year old European dinosaur companies as EU tech policy director 𝕏
10 JulAll Airbus models made in the last 25 years have zero fatal crashes 𝕏
9 JulIf cars were invented today the European Union would have regulated them out of existence in favor of horses 𝕏
7 JulA majority of the worst ranked airports in the world are run by Da Vinci Airports 𝕏
7 JulImagine traveling to Europe to spend your hard-earned money and getting sprayed with water guns by degrowth protesters 𝕏
5 JulAmerican restaurants kick you out after one meal unlike Europe 𝕏
4 JulJapan is not futuristic it's a fossil stuck in 1990 unlike China Korea and Vietnam 𝕏
2 JulJack Ma met Jerry Yang at the great wall of China in 1997 𝕏
1 JulThe rise and fall of Lisbon (2020-2024) 𝕏
30 JunI made luggage losers a live ranking of airlines by lost luggage 𝕏
24 JunEverything in Europe comes from Germany and everything in Germany comes from China 𝕏
17 JunDegrowth propaganda is everywhere you look now 𝕏
15 JunLearn Python for remote AI jobs paying median 80k 𝕏
14 JunGuy sells his $50k/mo business for $10m but it's just an acquihire 𝕏
13 JunSo many VC funded exits are actually massive failures 𝕏
7 JunIf you wanna get rich fastest make a premium product for Switzerland UAE US and Singapore 𝕏
5 JunUS proposes ban on DJI drones after it became world's biggest manufacturer 𝕏
19 MayUS bans Chinese companies after they become market leaders 𝕏
17 MayThe euro kinda destroyed southern Europe's economies 𝕏
14 MayEU company landscape is run by dinosaurs founded 50 years before US ones 𝕏
14 MayMy first interaction with a WIRED journalist 10 years ago 𝕏
5 MayNew York City was founded by the Dutch as New Amsterdam 400 years ago 𝕏
29 AprMost Europeans don't realize how stagnant Europe has become 𝕏
7 AprSouth America uses remote security people and doormen 𝕏
27 MarWayfair used my AI interior design tool to build their own 𝕏
21 MarGot scammed with the extra zero trick at Órale Juanito Palermo in Buenos Aires 𝕏
21 MarUber is completely useless in Argentina because of a hardcoded price check 𝕏
10 MarBritish people are now the 2nd most miserable people in the world 𝕏
14 FebMMA turned him from an awkward nervous wreck into a confident guy 𝕏
8 FebEvery day it gets a little easier but you gotta do it every day 𝕏

2023

22 DecAI generated images are 10000x cheaper than any human could charge 𝕏
20 DecHow I imagined my future million dollar startup office vs my actual million dollar startup office 𝕏
10 DecOpen source LLMs reaching GPT-4 levels way earlier than we thought is the most exciting thing now to me 𝕏
9 DecThere are more regulators in this room than AI scientists in all of EU 𝕏
6 DecNobody will build apps on Gemini because Google always shuts things down 𝕏
4 DecMinimal architect sketches turned into renders with Interior AI v2 𝕏
2 DecYou're just lucky 𝕏
27 NovOpen sourced my entire ChatGPT code for image text adventures 𝕏
21 NovTrying self hosting alpaca a finetuned llama model after OpenAI drama 𝕏
16 NovI made my first video game with ChatGPT DALL-E RunwayML and ElevenLabs 𝕏
13 NovHow i'd validate 30 startup ideas in 2023 with tiktok and Stripe preorders 𝕏
1 NovNestle's Nesquik gets nutri-score a from EU Commission and WHO 𝕏
24 OctHeadspace was started at 38 by former monk Andy Puddicombe who exited at 50 𝕏
5 OctIf i was 18 today i’d skip uni and go nomad building startups 𝕏
25 SepActionable marketing tactic to get tiktok videos about your app for $100-$300 𝕏
9 SepI asked GPT4 which countries you should invest in real estate 𝕏
7 SepUnbothered writing vanilla JavaScript while web dev Twitter fights over TypeScript 𝕏
6 SepWhy national postal services are so bad at delivering packages and Amazon is so good 𝕏
24 AugOffice trends cycle every 7 years from cubicles to open offices and back 𝕏
8 AugInvested in Brazil after traveling there for a month 𝕏
4 AugGood example is GoJEK a super app in Asia where you can do everything from ordering an Uber to massage and investing 𝕏
2 AugWhy fold into wall beds never became a big thing 𝕏
29 Jul$1,000,000 mortgage costs $2,217,160 total with interest 𝕏
22 JulHow to feel like you're getting ahead but actually procrastinate 𝕏
13 JulLuxury restaurant in Portugal won't accept Visa or MasterCard but barefoot food cart guy in Brazil does 𝕏
13 JulMacBook adaptor costs $220 in Brazil instead of $99 due to import taxes 𝕏
13 JulPortuguese have a weird love/hate obsession with Brazil 𝕏
3 JulPhotoAI.com is almost 14000 lines of raw php making $61808 per month 𝕏
29 JunAspartame is proven to cause cancer in soda drinks 𝕏
24 JunWagner coup is like when you hire a web dev and give GitHub access and he takes over your site 𝕏
22 JunAlmost nobody I know in Asia wants to move to America anymore 𝕏
20 JunBig Dutch dairy company wants me to help create their AI strategy 𝕏
17 JunWhile the EU fights about nuclear energy China plans 150 new reactors 𝕏
15 JunI wish everywhere had these power outlets that accept any plug from US UK EU plus USB-C 𝕏
14 JunPhotoAI adds try on mode for AI clothing models 𝕏
13 JunSo why do you have a sticker over your webcam 𝕏
10 JunFirst class in America vs first class in Asia 𝕏
5 JunUS flag stripes come from Indonesia's Majapahit empire 𝕏
4 JunDrinking alcohol negatively affects the liver and leads to fatty liver called cirrhosis 𝕏
20 MayThailand is a third world country 𝕏
14 MayOnly losers go to networking events 𝕏
29 AprEasiest hack to save lots of money is registering as a company 𝕏
15 AprCasio watch face for Apple Watch 𝕏
6 AprBuenos Aires is now #1 on Nomad List thanks to cheap currency 𝕏
18 MarTwo types of people now 𝕏
11 MarIf I was just out of school I'd fly to Bangkok to bootstrap my startup for $240 a month 𝕏
5 MarWe need more makers less coaches 𝕏
18 FebVC startup $100M exit nets 4 cofounders $47 per hour after dilution and taxes 𝕏
11 FebDigital nomads you are fucking disgusting graffiti in Portugal 𝕏
6 FebGoogle AI launches are all press releases without functioning products 𝕏
16 JanMy new AI model is great 𝕏

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

27 DecOvernight success is the biggest myth: 10 years and 98% failed projects to make $100k/mo 𝕏
15 DecOdds of launching something successfully 𝕏
5 DecPhotopea is a 100% free browser version of Photoshop and it's better 𝕏
5 DecWhy is our entire society built around the idea that sleep literally doesn't matter? 𝕏
24 NovIn Beijing you can add your public transit card to Apple Wallet 𝕏
23 NovBeijing air turned into hell on earth this weekend from weekend driving 𝕏
23 NovEvery receipt in Beijing gives you a QR code for digital bookkeeping 𝕏
19 NovBeijing today 𝕏
18 NovThe foundations of geopolitics by Aleksandr Dugin describes our current world with scary accuracy 𝕏
14 NovHow to get an idea for your startup from Craigslist 𝕏
8 OctMap of every European city 𝕏
1 OctVisited my favorite fintech Revolut's office in London and met the co-founder 𝕏
26 SepLaunched no more Google on product hunt 𝕏
3 SepWalmart vs Google revenue and profit per employee 𝕏
2 SepThe more religious a country, the less productive it is 𝕏
18 AugWhy Europe can't do tech: low risk tolerance chart 𝕏
11 AugTop 5 regrets before death 𝕏
29 JulInternet speed vs murder rate 𝕏
27 JulBarriers of entry to building a startup have never been so low 𝕏
18 JulThe internet complains about facebook selling data but wants indie apps for free 𝕏
14 JulThe first trillion dollar company is Norway's oil fund 𝕏
4 JulEU is making it impossible for startups to operate 𝕏
8 JunYou learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together 𝕏
27 MayWent to a robot hotel with self check-in and no humans 𝕏
23 MayBlocked by a member of the European Parliament 𝕏
7 AprSitting in traffic each morning to stare at a screen for 40 years is capitalism's greatest con 𝕏
1 AprPeople forget how much advantage you have in 2018 as an indie business 𝕏
21 MarBuilding a startup: what people think vs reality 𝕏
20 MarDon't quit your job until side project revenue surpasses it for 6 months 𝕏
12 MarMy book MAKE on bootstrapping startups is now live on Product Hunt 𝕏
6 MarBrazil hackers built an AI bot that finds anomalies in public spending 𝕏
26 FebI just passed $52,843 in monthly revenue 𝕏
29 JanI'm Product Hunt's Maker of the Year again!
28 JanWhy Korean Jimjilbangs and Japanese Onsens are great
26 JanUsing osx’s screenshot tool as a screen ruler 𝕏
24 JanTurning side projects into profitable startups
24 JanMy presentation: turning side projects into profitable startups 𝕏
3 JanWhat I learnt from 100 days of shipping
2 JanMoney should buy freedom from employment not Bentley cars and Rolex watches 𝕏

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

30 DecUnless the job itself is your dream, stay the fuck away from salaried jobs
30 NovSuccess is One Big Hoax
18 OctThe death of the corporate drone
13 OctThe West's unemployment problem is permanent
4 OctNew Panda Mix Show branding and website
29 AugHeadhunterz - Power of Music
21 AugEssendle interview on my music and my YouTube show
7 AugThe XX - Angels
2 AugAnna Lunoe & Diamond Lights - Stronger (Willy Joy Remix)
2 AugSpenzo - Ova
10 JulHerve feat. Ronika - How Can I Live Without You (Make it Right) (Death Rose Cult Remix)
9 JulPheo - Nyquil
5 JulWhy buying YouTube views is bad
5 JulCitizen - Deep End
5 JulI love minimalist living
3 JulD!RTY AUD!O intro
1 JulAnybody can monetize their passion (now)
28 JunDiplo - No Problem
27 JunSkream - Thoughts of You
21 JunTEED - Blood Pressure
19 JunToday is the first day of the rest of your life
17 JunHappiness maximization vs. profit maximization
16 JunMusic genres are dead
15 JunMake a great product
15 JanRasa - Noem 't Wat Je Wilt

2011

23 DecRasa - Hard & Soul
15 NovEarth