Does regulation meaningfully deter ambitious entrepreneurs from building companies?

Tom Blomfield · May 13, 2024

Building a regulated company is startups on hard mode, because a regulator can blow up your plans every few months even when customers love the product and the business is profitable

At Monzo customers gave incredible feedback and the product was profitable, yet the regulator would still declare it bad for customers and force plan changes

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Daniel Khachab · Oct 28, 2024 · hedged

Regulation is not a real disadvantage for most SaaS or marketplace businesses, though heavily regulated industries are probably genuinely disadvantaged.

Scope: admits he doesn't know heavily regulated industries well

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Severin Hacker · May 19, 2025

Regulation only fails to deter founders when there is an alternative jurisdiction to route around it; EU-wide AI regulation has no such alternative, so it genuinely drives founders away.

Uber and Airbnb faced local regulation and could try 200 other US cities, but a bloc-wide AI regime leaves a European AI founder with no in-region alternative except leaving.

56:40 Regulation deters only when no alternative jurisdiction exists

Harry Stebbings · May 19, 2025

Regulation does not inhibit the greatest entrepreneurs.

Travis Kalanick wasn't stopped by regulation with Uber and Elon Musk wasn't stopped with SpaceX.

56:42 The greatest entrepreneurs are not deterred by regulation