Europe must bet bigger on young founders, tech leaders urge at TNW Conference

Europe must take bigger bets on young founders to build tomorrow’s tech giants, industry leaders urged today.

Speaking at TNW Conference, investors and CEOs called for stronger support for entrepreneurial ambition — before Europe’s best ideas and brightest minds head elsewhere.

Kieran Hill, General Partner at 20VC — a venture capital firm founded by podcast host Harry Stebbings — urged the continent’s institutions to expand their appetite for risk. “We need to change how we sell ambition,” he said.

Hill believes changing this mindset is key to producing Europe’s next business leaders. He warned that today’s talented founders often want to be in the US, where the business leaders who inspire them are based. It’s also, he added, a country that truly celebrates entrepreneurial success.

“When you get to a certain phase in Europe, you’re naturally drawn to go to Silicon Valley or you’re drawn to go to New York — because that’s believed to be where the best opportunity lies,” he said.

His words were echoed by Nicola Ebmeyer, co-founder and CEO of Gain.pro, a private market intelligence and deal sourcing platform. The Amsterdam-based business regularly ranks among Europe’s fastest-growing startups. At first, however, Ebmeyer’s ambitions attracted cynicism at home.

She already had a stable career at McKinsey when she decided to found a startup. Her plan was often derided as dangerously risky.

“I have never heard so many times in my life, ‘Nicola, you are probably making the worst decision in your life’,” she said.

Ebmeyer believes her experience reflects a broader cultural problem in Europe. She relates it to a common expression: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” The phrase is normally applied to underrepresented groups, but she argues it “holds equally true for the entrepreneurial journey.”

“You need people around you to show you what’s possible; to lift the bar, to take you by the hand, to show you can also do [it],” she said.

Hill has his own plan to create more of these leaders. In March, 20VC backed Project Europe, an early-stage fund for entrepreneurs under 25. More than 120 European founders — from companies including Klarna, Mistral AI, and Shopify — have joined forces to provide investment and mentorship for the project.

The goal is to keep ambitious, talented entrepreneurs on the continent — and give them the support they need to thrive.

Hill argues there’s an urgent need for such backing. He notes that young founders in Europe have the same ambitions as their counterparts in the US, but nowhere near the same level of financial support. “The infrastructure here is just so unwilling to take risks on young people,” he said.

He wants other investors to follow Project Europe’s lead. He criticised the continent’s current crop of VCs for focusing too much on business models and too little on founder motivation. “That’s a symptom of Europe,” he said. “It’s not how I operate, but it’s how I see 95% of VCs. And the risk appetite is just so f*cking minimal.”

Amid these criticisms, Hill also highlighted the positive momentum. He noted that several of today’s fastest-growing startups — including Mistral, Synthesia, and Loveable — are now based in Europe.

To build more of them, he and Ebmeyer agree, the continent must embrace greater risk — and bet bigger on its young founders.