He has worked in several countries, and judges bureaucracy in Latvia and Estonia to be relatively small. “It’s quite different from anything else I’ve encountered,” the entrepreneur said. According to him, companies can be started and run quite easily. Bureaucracy is definitely not what holds back entrepreneurs from achieving something, he believes.
Nevertheless, the Latvian government is currently touting a 25% reduction in bureaucracy as one of its main goals, as previously reported by LSM.
Blaus said that in order to develop unicorn companies in Latvia, more smart people with experience in the field of technology are needed. He pointed out that in Estonia, the first ‘unicorn’ company, Skype, provided the initial stimulus. Almost all other Estonian unicorns “grew their legs” from the Skype team.
“The key to an ultra-affluent society is directly through disproportionately valuable companies, which have disproportionately high salaries, including taxes paid. This cannot be found in small or medium-sized companies. To reach their level, you need to create something phenomenal. Like, say, the combined Printify and Printful [two recently merged Latvian companies]. It is a phenomenon on a global level. We need 20 such companies. Then Riga would look like one of the richest cities in Europe,” declared Blaus.
Blaus was concise about the shortcomings of Latvia in the field of technology companies. We are good engineers, but we lack self-confidence and creativity in sales and cooperation with investors. “Creating complex technologies is our strength,” he said.