Founders in the US are more demanding than in Europe, says OpenAI startup boss

In the latest comparison between American and European founders, the head of OpenAI’s startup admitted that Americans are “almost shameless” when it comes to making requests and giving feedback to AI giants.

Laura Modiano, head of OpenAI startups in EMEA, drew a comparison between American and European founders based on her extensive work with founders in both regions and the deployment of AI capabilities.

“That’s why feedback is so important. We’re moving at lightning speed. It’s got to be your voice, and I see American founders who are very talented, almost shameless, coming in and saying, ‘We need this. We need to improve on that. We need to improve on that. We need this new feature,'” Modiano said in a fireside chat at Wednesday’s Shifted Summit. “If the founders don’t tell us, we don’t necessarily know.”

She called on European founders to speak up more. Otherwise, you risk missing out on a big opportunity.

“Please, please, please, if you’re using OpenAI, please always tell us what you think about it, what’s working, what’s not working, and how we can improve it.”

She cited Lovable, valued at $1.8 billion, as an example of a European company that is good at providing feedback. The Swedish vibecoding startup has a GPT-5-based assistant called Lovable Assistant 5.

“When GPT-5 came out, they (Lavable) were one of the companies that launched with us and because they were in alpha they had early access to GPT-5 and gave us a lot of feedback. I was in their office for a week and was literally doing a review every hour,” she said.

“‘How does something work? What do we need?’ So the launch of GPT-5 really put the flair of European developers into the model that you’re using today. So if you don’t speak up about that, you’re missing out on a great opportunity.”

Swedish AI learning platform Sana is another startup that Modino praised.

“When I went to their office a few months ago, they said, ‘We really need this feature in terms of voice, tone of voice, and speed. This is what we need.’ I take that feedback, and then I see who else has similar feedback and prioritize that feature on our roadmap to make sure we’re serving what the customer wants,” she said.

“I often give this advice. I say every startup, especially every AI startup, should have a chief feedback officer, because only when you know what your customers want can you ship and incorporate roadmaps, different features, and different improvements,” she added.

With her comments, Modiano fanned the flames of a debate in which European entrepreneurs have been criticized for lacking the same intensity and vibrancy as their American counterparts.

Earlier this year, some venture capitalists suggested that European startup founders need to increase their working hours, including seven-day weeks, to become more globally competitive.

Harry Stebbings, founder of 20VC, previously told CNBC Make It that Europeans are not very good at selling themselves to venture capitalists and are often held back by a culture of reticence.

In contrast, Americans are much better at telling exciting stories to promote their businesses. “I think in the UK we often scale back our ambitions,” he said.

More recently, British Business Secretary Peter Kyle shot down British university students, accusing them of being less ambitious and less willing to start their own companies, in contrast to their American counterparts.

“In the UK, if you go to a group of undergraduates, how big does that group have to be before you find someone who says they chose to go to university because they wanted to be a founder?” Kyle said at an event hosted by AI chip maker Nvidia in London. “There’s just no entrepreneurial spirit, no drive, no drive.”