05 Dec Uber’s hunger for talent leads to Amsterdam
This week Uber announced that it opens a mobile development division in Amsterdam. (NB A couple of days later Uber announced that it raised $1,2 billion of funding, based on a estimated market valuation of $40 billion)
Amsterdam gateway to continental Europe
The European headquarter of Uber is already seated in Amsterdam, showing that the capital of the Netherlands is the gateway to continental Europe for many companies. The decision to settle a mobile development office in Amsterdam was done because Uber does not want to compete with other companies in Silicon Valley, like Google and Apple.
Competing with clients
A somewhat similar kind of reasoning I recently heard when I met with an US and partly London based company that was investigating the opportunity to open an office in Amsterdam. This company delivers services to many established financial institutions in London, seeking for the same sort of talent as the company itself.
Tech savy talent
Not only does the company not want to compete with her own clients, it was also in search of the more tech savy employee. Not the sort that has the typical background of employees working for the traditional financial institution but the employee that also qualifies for a job at one of the tech giants.
Quality and costs of living
Amsterdam with its highly skilled population and its balance in quality and cost of living is a good alternative for London. Not only to hire people from the Netherlands itself but also to attract people from other parts of the world.
Collective of developers and designers
In the case of Uber, the company starts is mobile development division with hiring a complete team of developers and designers that is part of a Dutch collective named Moop.me. This team will work on new consumer-facing projects.
