One of the aspects I appreciated most about being a VC in Europe for so many years didn’t occur to me until after I shifted the balance of my portfolio to Japan.
Specifically, the cultural diversity of the startup boardroom in Europe is broader and more heterogeneous than I’ve ever experienced in ecosystems like Japan, or even Silicon Valley for that matter.
This is not a criticism of these other places. It’s largely a function of geography. Silicon Valley, and the U.S. as a whole, is an enormous, relatively homogeneous market. Similarly, Japan also represents a sufficiently sizable, even more homogeneous, and isolated market.
Europe, in contrast, encompasses a collection of distinct small and medium-sized countries whose domestic markets can represent a natural ceiling on a scaling company’s growth. Ambitious growth-oriented startups in Europe must by definition aspire to expand across multiple borders.
The close geographic proximity of Europe’s distinct countries also offers a culturally diverse talent pool. As I’ve often argued in the past, this represents one of Europe’s competitive advantages for globally-minded tech startups.
What I haven’t written about previously, however, because it was only upon attaining a bit of distance that I could see it — is how this cultural diversity manifests itself at the board of directors level.
I’ve served as a statutory director on a dozen different company boards — and probably on double that informally — over the years. Most of these have been in Europe. Not a single one of the European firms had fewer than two nationalities on the board, and many boasted four or five.
A fellow boardmember on one of the startups I currently serve prepared this cultural map below for our board composition. We have five nationalities on this board: American, British, Dutch, French, and Italian (come to think of it we even had a sixth member from Germany at one point). [Note: this graphic was inspired from his workshop with Erin Meyer, author of The Culture Map.]
Pretty fascinating, isn’t it ?
The last dynamic strikes particularly close to home for me as a dual French-American national in its contrast between persuading based on principles (French-style) vs. persuading based on concrete applications (American-style).
Dynamics on boards like this one with several nationalities provide simultaneously some of the most enriching, challenging, infuriating, and rewarding professional experiences of my career.
Despite the challenges, I remain convinced that culturally-diverse boards offer a competitive advantage to their startups. I encourage all entrepreneurs to strive for boards which are diverse in both culture and gender. You’ll be stronger for it.