Doug Richard, School for Startups: Romanian entrepreneurs no more burdened than anywhere else

Romanian entrepreneurs complain about various local impediments to running a successful business in Romania, but in fact they're no different than those faced by entrepreneurs in other countries, says Doug Richard, investor and serial entrepreneur, founder of the School for Startups, in an interview for Romania-Insider.com. More importantly, the outsiders' perception of Romanian startups does not factor in the Romanian trait. Startups are just startups, and entrepreneurs are judged based on their abilities, not on their nationality. What are the biggest impediments startups have to overcome in Romania in order to survive and eventually become successful? Romanian businesses are like any other business in the world. Every economy in every country has local issues its entrepreneurs must address and Romania is no different. As a minor example, Romania has quite a winter every year and this has an impact on some enterprise. People who run events, those who operate restaurants, hotels, etc. have to factor the climate into their business plans. Local health regulations, tax law, financing rules are no different from the weather in that they must be accommodated by a business owner. I think almost every nation on earth could do more to foster, nurture and support startups and it would be beneficial to local, regional, national and international economies if they did. But I don't see Romanian's as being more burdened by local impediments to entrepreneurs than entrepreneurs that come from other nations.[pullquote] "There are certainly much more difficult places to start a business".[/pullquote] Which are the good and bad traits of Romanian startups, in your experience? What's different from Eastern and Central Europe/Western Europe and Romania in this sense? I think Romanian startups share the same strengths and weaknesses young businesses around the world have. Innovations, insight, hope, determination are properties of good entrepreneurs everywhere. Entrepreneurs everywhere also struggle with trying to learn what they need to know and work at the same time. They could use more advice from a few people who have actually built businesses from the ground up and they struggle to cope with their lack of visibility to their customers. Entrepreneurs, and many who advise them, think lack of startup capital and easy financing are issues. Perhaps they are to a limited degree. But money doesn't buy a business, a clear business message to communicate to the market, a great product design or the best team. Without those things no startup thrives. With them, almost any startup can approach marketing partners and customers without cash and get orders. With orders in hand money is easily found on great terms.