> The economy is not developed, making it extremely difficult to convince anybody to buy anything you try to sell them. People are pessimistic and desperate, most of the rich make money through corruption and criminal activities. There is little support or financing for running a legitimate business. Talent is scarce. There is nothing to compete over and nobody to compete with on a local level.<p>Away with the violins already. Bulgaria may not be entrepreneur friendly or corruption free, but it is not a misery cesspool (source: my friends there).<p>> Unlike the people I met in the Silicon Valley, only a handful of our tech-oriented students had participated in hackatons, contributed to open-source software, had started a personal blog or answered questions in online help communities such as StackOverflow.<p>This is classical Silicon Valley fetichising. Some wannabe entrepreneurs have it too, here in Belgium. But if you want that mindset, you better look at the rest of the ideology that comes with it. Personally I want no part in it.<p>Nevertheless, the rest of the post shows that it is in fact <i>easier</i> to start a business in Bulgaria. The relative immaturity of the tech scene means it's actually much easier to make a splash and find opportunities. Better be self-taught in the land of opportunity then well-schooled in a saturated market.<p>And at the end of the day, that's also what entrepreneurship is: doing your own thing, with no one holding your hand.