Visited a startup accelerator in Palo Alto last week It was 10pm and the founders were still coding “Do you have a government permit to be working at this hour?” I asked them They looked at me and said “bro what are you talking about” in a typical condescending American way I explained that in Europe we would require special authorization from the labor ministry and overtime compensation forms filed in “Bro no wonder you guys ship so slow” I immediately called the police reporting there are people doing unlicensed labor after business hours The officer laughed and hung up I left for the airport that same day and flew back to Berlin where work happens between 9am and 5pm, with 1h lunch break, as intended by law No wonder American startups fail so often