Smaller untapped opportunities are only small until they gain traction. There is no end to browser based games right now.
Facebook started small, Twitter started small in fact most companies start small.
The difference is just as likely that European companies haven't understood the power of using large ecosystems to leverage their own business. Instead they are puritans who want to create their own companies.
When ecosystems like ebay, FaceBook and Twitter appear why shouldn't people take advantage of that?
Business opportunity is business opportunity. It is very few peoples luxury to create something truly unique and in that game Europeans aren't really making any dent's in the universe.
There are millions of opportunities that will never make you fuck-you money, but will afford you a decent living. They are often less risky because there's less competition. Patio11's Bingocardcreator is an example. No matter how much traction it gets it'll never be the new facebook. Europeans seem to be happier with these kind of opportunities, while Americans go for the homeruns.
I have to call sweeping false generalization. I can think ten local companies that meet that same criterion without even trying, and "local" for me is not Silicon Valley, either.
Maybe some Americans try for the homerun and no Europeans do (I can't judge), but even in America by company-count, which I accept as a reasonable proxy of number-of-people-starting-companies, the "home runs" attempters are the outliers. And of course the VCs are interested in the home runs, that's the VC business model!
Just my opinion: I don't think this argument applies to America, but only to the Silicon Valley (SV) culture (and all influenced others). Generally people want only to have a decent living, while those exposed to the SV culture (usually), are looking for the big opportunity.
EDIT: (Disclosure: I am an European exposed to the SV culture :)
Actually, if you want to make a decent living, going with something with lots of competition is safer - at least you know there is already a market for that.
Smaller untapped opportunities are only small until they gain traction. There is no end to browser based games right now.
Facebook started small, Twitter started small in fact most companies start small.
The difference is just as likely that European companies haven't understood the power of using large ecosystems to leverage their own business. Instead they are puritans who want to create their own companies.
When ecosystems like ebay, FaceBook and Twitter appear why shouldn't people take advantage of that?
Business opportunity is business opportunity. It is very few peoples luxury to create something truly unique and in that game Europeans aren't really making any dent's in the universe.