It's good to see someone wondering about what to do to encourage younger founder in the more risk averse EU. Events like Barcamps and future of web apps are doing a great job of raising awareness and bringing the local startup communities together.

One of the most interesting problems that Saul has raised is finding the right people to fund. As YC has found an application form and interview don't always give you the best way of judging a team. Demos could provide a solution, as could recommendations & references. YC news is a very interesting solution, which I'll be keen in seeing the outcome of.

Has anyone got any ideas about how to find the right founders to fund?

Maybe we don't need a famous guy...

Let's say that all interested European hacker teams on this site agree to move to the same city, for next summer. Then, we organize weekly get-together ourselves, and we get potential investors to attend those. Just like YC.

The Silicon Valley of Europe is located in...Silicon Valley. No advantage fighting network effects.

Kul, you should mention for the non-YC'ers out there that you are in fact a European who made the move to Silicon Valley for your startup.