Part 8 of The European Scale-Up Question: can Europe's best companies scale globally and keep their strategic centre in Europe? A five-test scorecard.

Europe has world-class startup hubs. Zurich and Upper Bavaria are in the EU's top 5 of 241 regions. But on joint patents, Europe's hub network scores 0.40 against America's 0.68.

DACH startup ecosystems are not leaderless networks. They're organized around key connector nodes — people, organizations, and institutions that bridge different parts of the ecosystem and facilitate information flow, introductions, and partnerships. Understanding these connector roles and building relationships with key connectors is fundamental to market entry success. A company that maps the connector landscape and builds relationships with 5-10 key connectors generates de

The Mittelstand Factor: Why Germany's Hidden Champions Matter If you're building a B2B SaaS company targeting German customers, you're implicitly targeting the Mittelstand. Germany's mid-sized companies — typically defined as having 50-5,000 employees and annual revenues between 10 million and 2 billion euros — represent the backbone of the German economy. They're not startups. They're not Fortune 500 conglomerates. They're sophisticated mid-market buyers with specific procur