Speaking as a Norwegian living abroad, I feel like one of the most important barriers (more important even than capital) to domestic startup success is a failure-averse culture. We have a ways to go before we're on par with the US in this regard.
huh?
Less social acceptance of failure, perhaps. The prevailing wisdom a few years ago was that having a failed business on record is still a bit of a black mark (wrt getting future investment funding, etc.)