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The Signature Obsession

Yes, it is real. Germany has a law that dictates what must appear in your email signature.

Not just your name or company.
We are talking about:

  • Court register details
  • Registered address
  • Managing directors
  • Registration number

Miss one? That is a fine of up to €5,000 per email.

And here is the kicker: the things people love to cram into email footers — privacy statements, confidentiality disclaimers, liability notices — carry no legal weight under German law.
They are just digital clutter. §35a of the German Commercial Code outlines what matters, and these self-made disclaimers are not on the list. They do not protect you. They do not count.

But this blog is not really about email.

It is about the mindset that is holding Europe back.

Here is the real issue:

While startups in the United States pitch payloads on napkins and raise seed rounds in days, European founders are wasting time cross-checking if their email footer complies with §35a of the German Commercial Code.

While the NewSpace industry thrives on iteration, clarity, and velocity, Europe is still tangled in rules built for 20th-century commerce.

And ESA is not helping.

Getting through a single ESA application feels like a paper maze.
You do not need ambition — you need an Excel wizard, a procurement specialist, and the patience of a saint.

Milestone reviews. Endless forms. Language like you are applying for a Cold War subsidy.
All while startups elsewhere receive rapid funding, real mentorship, and the freedom to fail, pivot, and relaunch.

ESA claims to support NewSpace — but the process is still deeply rooted in oldspace thinking. Slow, hierarchical, paperwork-heavy.
No wonder some of the boldest European space startups go private, leave Europe, or skip ESA entirely.

And that is how we fall behind.

We lose time to systems that reward formatting over speed.
We lose teams to ecosystems that believe in trust over control.
We lose momentum while others are already orbiting.

Europe has talent, brains, and bold ideas. But they will not launch if we keep regulating like it is 1999.

Because while we are stuck editing disclaimers,
others are flying.