Like everybody else said, it depends on what you want your HQ for... record keeping and accounting or frequent centralized (euro?) business meetings. Actual business activity or overseeing branch offices?

That being said, I liked Amsterdam/Netherlands because it's central, has an airport, lots of shipping, high tech & educated population (+ english speaking).

To add some variety to the mix consider Sofia, Bulgaria. I've lived their 3+ yrs: they've just entered the EU, have a cheap educated work force, cheap land (don't just lease, invest), the airport gives you a plane hop to western europe, the Black Sea is 4 hrs away and the night life is quite nice (quality of life!). There is the foreign language and bureaucracy but it's just a small cost balanced against your low labor and cheap land savings.

You'll definitely have to check out tax laws everywhere though...

Links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia

posted January 6, 2007

I agree that is depends on a lot more than you are defining as your requirements but based on just your question and nothing else confirmed I would suggest the following:

Main HQ - London
3 smaller satellite offices (2 or 3 operatives) in Amsterdam, Berlin and Barcelona

This would cover initial requirements and the sat offices can be moved around to fit in with requirements that crop up post office set-up.

The reason I would choose London as the main office is simply because the environment, network and skill pool is there, more so than I feel it is in any other city in Europe; although don't flame me on that - it's MY opinion. I've worked around Europe too so this isn't just a hunch.

chris@chriswarrender.com

posted January 7, 2007

Dear Reid,

I would strongly recommend that you pick Geneva. A few people in this thread have already listed the basic facts that make this city attractive for European HQ. Let me add a few insights from my experience doing business here as a foreigner for the last 15 years.

Switzerland enjoys a stable economy and political environment. Laws are simple, readable by a mere mortal. Procedures are clear and swift. When you have a problem, the civil servants are sincerely doing their best to help you, not add yet another layer of FUD. This is the only place in the world where I've seen this, and it's worth more than a tax break.

A little-known fact: even though Switzerland is not part of the European Union, they have concluded bilateral trade agreements which lets them gets the best of the EU (single market, harmonized regulations, freedom of movement for people and goods) and avoid the worst (bureaucracy, monetary policy, agricultural subsidies). So for most business purposes, it's as if the company were part of the EU, but with a much lighter administrative and tax burden.

Geneva is a truly multinational city, where more than 40% of the workforce are foreigners. You will find people speaking all languages and connected to all European countries (and beyond): a great hub for LinkedIn! The whole region around the Geneva lake is packed with young companies in software and biotech, and you can hire bright people from EPFL, IMD and CERN. Finally from a PR standpoint, you'll be in the place where the Web was born ;-)

On the practical side, the Geneva airport is well-connected (an easyJet hub), uncongested, and just 10 minutes from the city center. The region boasts a high-level quality of life, and many people live across the border in the French Alps (Haute-Savoie), a paradisiac place for outdoor lovers.

Good luck in your quest! I hope to welcome you here soon...

JFG

posted January 8, 2007

Netherlands is excellent: full 'european-ness', good English-speakers, good infrastructure. Pick somewhere with good (public) transport links to AMS - Lieden, The Hague. Only things to watch for are 'jobs-for-life' regulations and a very conservative business culture. Hire a non-Dutch team in the Netherlands !

Germany (Frankfurt or Berlin) is 2nd choice.

UK is best for employment law flexibility; but avoid London as too expensive and Heathrow is a disaster; BHX or MAN is better. But the UK is not really 'European' enough: international attitude is poor and multilingual staff are hard to find.

Barcelona is getting pretty cool.

Avoid France (too French), E Europe (too risky), Scandinavia (too expensive), Ireland (not central enough and now too expensive).

posted January 8, 2007

You should target very large cities where you can attract the type of talents and skills you need, including languages and international exposures.

Some of them have been specialized in specific industries such as Luxemburg, London, Hamburg or Munich.

Don't forget that London is in an island and that the European feeling may be week there. Taxes are low but salaries pretty high.

Many multinational companies currently prefer Brussels or Geneva for their EMEA HQ: Geneva is expensive but nice and safe, attractive for US expats, however with a limited local basis of good international candidates, except in banking and luxury goods.

I wold recommand rather Brussels, it is clearly one of the cheapest best option, very central, with an extreme international mindset, nice lifestyle.

Berlin is not enough considered within the shortlist many strenghts suchas cost of living, lifestyle, international mindset.

However, Paris offers a larger workplace in the e-business industry with the opportunity to hire easily experienced candidates from competitors. It is also ideal to travel (larger hub than Brussels) and internationally pretty attractive. Many anglosaxon companies are scared by potential labor difficulties in France. Having managed redundancies throughout Europe and the rest of the world, I can assure you that the legal environment is similar to the one in any other mainland European countries and the risk vey limited, costs related are higher than in the UK (but salary base cheaper).

posted January 9, 2007

Hi Reid,

You have already received a lot of wise answers, but need to point out the two capitals in Europe that have the future in place (culture-, hi-tech-, infrastructure-knowhow, which are in place and a few steps ahead, and more...).

a) OSLO, Norway - focus on IT Fornebu
More info: http://www.itfornebu.no/default.asp?V_LANG_ID=0

b) COPENHAGEN, Denmark – focus on Ørestaden
More info: http://www.keops.dk/content/us/office_development/office_tenancies/orestaden

I would not worry too much about taxes etc., all countries/cities are happy to welcome new businesses and have unique packages :-)

Cost: reasonable
Employment law:
- Norway: http://www.norway.org/visas/visas/visa.htm
- Denmark: http://www.bm.dk/sw1355.asp
Talents: no issues

Wish you good luck!

Links:

• http://www.itfornebu.no/default.asp?V_LANG_ID=0
• http://www.keops.dk/content/us/office_development/office_tenancies/orestade...

posted January 10, 2007

Look for information on gettin into the AIM (London Stock Exchange). I believe it's a powerful idea for a company like LinkedIn.

For establishing a local firm, Luxembourg could be a great place because of their tax legislation...here you can find some info about it:

Links:

• http://www.lowtax.net/lowtax/html/jlxcos.html
• http://www.lexfori.net/what_structures.html

posted January 6, 2007

ad-hoc i'd say munich, luxemburg, vienna and london

//i'm located in austria; drop me a line for further talks

posted January 6, 2007

I recommend Paris for the lifestyle and Luxembourg for the taxes.

posted January 6, 2007

May I recommend World Trade Center in Monaco? Contact the owner: Gildo Pastor gildo@wtc.mc

Give up France, taxes are pretty the worst all over the world. But it may indeed be good to have a small office in Paris for Sales, just for "life-style" as said.

UK has good reputation for taxes, but real estate sounds to be very expensive.

posted January 6, 2007

It depends on what you are selling and what your target market is. I suggest UK and Ireland (because of the language, Ireland due to the educated workforce/costs), France, and then Spain (Spain should help you if you decide to go to LA).

posted January 6, 2007

Do not forget Cologne/Germany and her Media Park with its concentration of Radio/TV/Web media companies. A pool of highly educated people, proximity to BeNeLux, France and central location in Western Europe make Köln a great place to live and work.

Links:

• http://www.mediapark.de/index_ka136.php
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne
• http://www.koeln.de/en/index.html

posted January 6, 2007

The American temptation is often to go to England due to the lack of a language barrier, but England is not in the mainstream of European business. For that reason, I've always pushed for a base on the continent, but then you have to deal with language issues.

As a result I've always liked the Netherlands for European HQ. Taxes and business regs are favorable; location is good for travel through most of Europe; most of the population speaks excellent English and often another language in addition to Dutch; lifestyle is pleasant.

posted January 6, 2007

There is a diffrence between UK and Europe, many Amricans do not seem to make this distinction very well and end up perplexed at their lack of success. Before deciding on a European location, I'd recommend you think about what you are trying to accomplish with your European subsidiary (mindshare and market presence? technological expertise? language skills?) and then drive our decision based on that.

There are many great citis and locations in Europe that can work well for you--from Sofia Antipolis in the south of France to Stockholm, through Munich, Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels and many others. Drive your decision based on your strategy and not on a random collection of answers in Linkedin.

Haim T. also suggests this expert on this topic:

• Hans V.

posted January 6, 2007

Reid, I'm biased :). But Moscow should be among those few options. It's in the middle of everything. Real estate is expensive, but taxes are lower than in Europe. Tons of talented people which are generally not as expensive as in London or Paris or Frankfurt. A lot of modern/contemporary hotels/business centers/restaurants. Time difference between SF and Moscow is 11 hours, so LI will have presence on both sides of the Earth.

posted January 6, 2007

It very much depends on the type of business you have and the markets in Europe you wish to serve.

For example, if you have a product heavy business and will be shipping your products into Europe, I would consider the Netherlands. It has a great system for supporting such business and you can ship rather quickly to most of Western Europe. If you are looking to base programming operations, check out the Eastern European countries with lower costs.

Much of your location strategy will really depend on your business and industry factors and the resources you plan to place in your development of your European operations.

posted January 6, 2007

I hope I don't offend anyone, but my opinion is...
Careful with Moscow. Corruption and personal security can be a problem. What's the point of having a successful business if your life is at risk or your profits hurt by extorsion? Better to employ the lot of brilliant and honest russians through teleworking.
Stay away from Spain. There aren't many highly qualified people there, the uni system doesn't encourage creativity or autonomous thinking...there is a general "employee" mentality in the air.
Oh, and the English level sucks (trust me, I lived 7 years there) Of course there are some excellent spanish workers/managers too, but they're the exception, not the rule, so they'll be harder to find and more expensive to attract. Or are too smart and left the country (hope I am an example, I live in the UK now ;)
Dublin could be a good option (reputation, taxes, lifestyle) but real estate also expensive.
Netherlands sounds interesting and has good (or at least neutral) business reputation in Europe, but I know little about it.

posted January 6, 2007

Belgium (Brussels) is good for corporate tax (very low), good skills, very international, English widely spoken, housing cheap & good.

However, politics is unstable, transport poor, income taxes extremely high (50%) and Brussels gets boring to live in after a while.

posted January 7, 2007

Hi Reid,
Many companies are using Switzerland, notably the area around Geneva, It is in the centre of Europe, has very qualified staff, is used to deal internationally and offers tax incentives. Please let me know if you need more.
Regards
Francois
http://www.linkedin.com/in/professional

Links:

• http://www.geneva.ch/

posted January 7, 2007

Reid,

As one of the others suggested, be more specific, because all the answers given are applicable.

If you want a specific answer ask a specific question.

Robert Oosthout.

posted January 7, 2007

Depends on what you want to do, but Prague (or other cities in the Czech Republic) is great when it comes to location, cost, availability of work force and its education and capability.

The laws within EU will be very close and comparable, so that is not a differentiator between the countries.

I can help further, if you are interested and get you in touch with people who can help there.

posted January 7, 2007

Switzerland : 3 national langages spoken, neutral and open people, Well considered by any other european country, geographically in the center of europe, wonderful area, labor costs rather expensive but very flexible concerning employing / firing to size the company growth, lots of experts, easy to attract people, possibility to negotiate tax & a lot of advantages with cities (The government really encourages HQ set ups..), lots of trains and flights going everywhere else (geneva or Zurich)... A lot of large HQ are in Switzerland now : P&G is the most recent one. Lots of biotech companies, banks and computer companies (logitech).

posted January 7, 2007

Another thing you should think about is what type of employees do you what? There are a lot of differences though out Europe on how employees aproce a problem. This have to do with different lifestyles in different parts of Europe.

Anja

posted January 7, 2007

Reid,
I live in Dublin now and have seen lots of companies setting up their HQ in Dublin or anywhere in Ireland, for that matter. Taxes for companies are low, good and well educated workforce, Government encourages foreign investment. If you need more info, contact me on caroline@muehlfenzl.com.

posted January 7, 2007

Reid,

Try to have a look with the Geneva State (Switzerland) most of the multinational have their European HQ there (as P&G, Dupont, EA, PRL,...). Or try with Vaud State (also in Switzerland) and they also have a big list of multinationals.

Their location is mainly du to:
- Tax
- Work force is usually multilangual and qualified
- No big labor force (strik is rarley happening, it can only happen if the conventional deal comes to end)
- Lots of international schools
- An international airport
- Transport are good

Go and visit below link:

Links:

• http://www.geneva.ch/

posted January 7, 2007

Amsterdam. Reasons: It's on the continent, it's easy to get to from most anywhere, it's a transportation and finance hub, it's more or less part of the EU, it's not in France, it doesn't carry any British baggage, it's economically and socially enlightened, and Linkedin already has a significant presence there.

Second choice: London. For finance. Right now it's bigger than NYC.
Third choice: Anywhere in Switzerland. For the chocolate and the watches.

posted January 7, 2007

Most of the public answers published here give a few quite viable options. My top criteria are:

1) Intercontinental travel hub with easy access to airports
2) Low regulatory burden and streamlined legal framework (e.g. reporting requirements), not only low corporate taxes
3) Labor law flexibility (ability to scale up and down easily)
4) Availability of an English-speaking, yet international, workforce

The last point is particularly important for your business, given the cultural-sensitivity of social networking. Europe is not homogeneous by any means, so it is important to staff your operation there with people who understand the different local markets and cultures. "International" hubs like London, Amsterdam, Geneva, Brussels have an advantage as they have traditionally attracted people from the entire continent.

Finally, if you are going to compete head-on with OpenBC/Xing for the German-speaking market, you should seriously consider a German office staffed with top notch German talent... in Berlin.

Matteo F. also suggests these experts on this topic:

• Jens Christian F.
• Kardyhm K.

posted January 7, 2007

As an "european branch" of a US based company you have two issues:
1) managing your sales, business development and support process
2) funnelling your money back to your shareholders.
Your strategy depends very much on how fast you want to develop your business, how big it is, and how much you reinvest locally.

Assuming that your current european presence is allready significative, and that you are allready making 20 to 50% of your business in Europe, and need to get some of this income back into your headquarter.

Your best bet might be to open your "european headquarter" in Dublin, Ireland and your "european sales and development office" in Paris, France.

Ireland is part of the EU, and has very low taxes, and quite lot of incentives targeted specifically toward US based companies.

Paris has a very good transport infrastructure, from Paris you can be almost anywhere you need be in Europe either through the TGV or direct Flight and back in the same day (with still enough time to do some useful work :-)).

There is quite a lot of available talent, and although people do yack about the high cost of labor you will find that the real cost is quite competitive, once you integrate the fact that it does include a pretty good health care and retirement benefit.

The Real Estate costs are moderatelly high but there are many ways to aleviate this (the city is quite active in trying to attract "IT jobs").

(and yes hire and fire is not so easy, but then you are planning to prudently hire real talents, aren't you :-) ?)

Of course if you plan to reinvest all you make in Europe for the first couple of years anyway, you do not need to create the "financial hub" in Ireland.
On the other hand Ireland has also a good banking infrastructure (to handle the payment transactions) and a good "phone support" industry, so ...

posted January 8, 2007