Why European Scale-ups Can't Afford to Copy the American Product Operating Model

European scale-ups copy the American Product Operating Models they can't afford to run.

A 1 to 5 ratio. €66 billion invested in Europe in 2025. Against ~$300 billion in the United States*. (In AI alone: a 12× gap.**)

And yet. European scale-ups are importing the American Product Operating Model. The same PM × Agile. The same sprint cycles. The same feature factory logic. A model built to burn cash. Fast. Without asking too hard where it's going.

Because in the US, cash compensates. When the tank is full, inefficiency drowns in speed. Europe's tank isn't full.

Toyota understood this before anyone else. Post-war Japan. Extreme scarcity of capital. No way to compete with Detroit. So Toyota didn't copy the American model. They built a different one: the Toyota Production System. Eliminate waste. Decide as close to the ground as possible. Build speed not as a goal but as a consequence of quality.

Result: they beat the American industry with a smarter operating model. Not more money. A better Operating model.

That's exactly what European founders need to do. Not imitate a model built for conditions they don't have, and probably never will. Build a more strategic operating model. One that produces speed because it produces vision. Eliminate waste because it is purposeful.

AI will accelerate an inefficient model: Faster in the wrong direction is just slower and expensive.

That's why I design the next Product Operating Model

*CEPR, "The Venture Capital Challenge for Europe," February 2026. cepr.org

**OECD Policy Brief, "Venture Capital Investments in Artificial Intelligence through 2025," February 2026. oecd.org