Analysis

April 15, 2026

The European tech ick list: Emojis, baseball caps and everything-maxxing

The everyday habits making the region’s ecosystem feel just a little more gross


Urban Dictionary defines icks as romantic turn-offs or 'things that makes you uncomfortable or weirded out'. Credit: Unsplash

Some patterns of behaviour in the European tech ecosystem have become so normalised that few consider questioning them anymore. 

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Martin Coulter

Martin Coulter is Sifted's news editor, based in London. You can follow him on LinkedIn and X

Anne Sraders

Anne Sraders is a senior reporter at Sifted, based in Berlin. She covers the VC industry and deeptech startups. She also writes Sifted's weekly VC newsletter Up Round. Follow her on X and LinkedIn

Freya Pratty

Freya Pratty is Sifted's associate editor. She covers UK tech and leads Sifted's investigations. Follow her on X , LinkedIn and Bluesky

Éanna Kelly

Éanna Kelly is a contributing editor at Sifted, and writes Startup Life , a weekly newsletter on what it takes to build a startup. Follow him on X and LinkedIn

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