It's time for me to weigh in on the big "why does the UK suck for Internet startups" debate. Tom Coates kicked it off by asking Where are all the UK start-ups?, and Ryan Carson followed up with some observations of his own.
A general feel appears to be that in the UK we've become experts at repackaging, regurgitation, and marketing old things in new ways, whereas in the US there's more of an environment for brassy experimentation and a better habitat where failing isn't a sin. This environment in the UK means venture capitalists and investors aren't too interested in funding wacky new ideas, but stick to models they are highly familiar with.
Ryan Carson believes the problem is the UK class system. I agree half-way on this, but disagree with this assessment as a whole. It's not so much class-ism, but the lack of variety amongst the classes. As a whole, the British are attracted to conformity and not sticking out. Working the 9 to 5, having some beers after work, having a few weeks' holiday each year, rinse and repeat to retirement. This is not a bad thing, but the people who eschew these values are in a small minority.
In the US, on the other hand, it's quite acceptable, and even expected, that a significant minority will be "doing their own thing", be starting businesses, be making brash moves, and be working towards becoming multi-millionaires. Most don't get there, but the expectation is, and it's less taboo in the United States to make seemingly crazy life changes and put your balls on the line. It's expected of people who are great. In the UK, going it on your own just makes you eccentric, and, if you succeed, a suspiciously "lucky bastard."
Onto the positives, we have a reasonable tax, commerce, and law system here in the UK, being less arcane than those in the US in most areas. It's easy to start up a business. But it's hard to get money and investors. It's even harder to be accepted in the marketplace, and the US market is so much larger and familiar with Internet concepts. The UK has the tools and the brains, but not the audience or the interest.
I have been approached by investors over the RSS Digest and Feed Digest stuff, but being in the UK has been a big turn-off in each case. The UK has the business and legal systems required for it to work well, but being in the UK is a detriment. My main market is in the US, the money is in the US, and US money and US customers like everything to be US-based.
Consider the co-operatives and teams which came together to build things like 43things, Odeo, Technorati, FeedBurner, and Flickr. It's not happening on the same scale here because it's just not rewarded. I'm not suggesting I'd be Bill Gates if I were born in the US, but the US is still the land of opportunity as far as this industry's concerned. Still, I encourage all of us to keep on fighting. Let's put this rock on the map!
A most interesting read. I am from Canada and although we border with the US, very little happens up here cause the US is the all high and mighty. All our talent go over to the US in order to 'make it big' and that is sad. In my books, your rock is on the map. I can't believe how much I read about medical advances in the UK that haven't even been looked at on this side of the ocean. Rock on UK - keep up the good work - you are certainly muchly appreciated by the Canadians....
Posted by: Maggie at July 30, 2005 02:39 PMThat is a good point. The link between Canada and the US is so open (thanks to NAFTA) that I guess it's inevitable the business minds will flock south. Personally I'd rather live near the border and get the benefits of both ;-)
Also, you're right that other high tech industries don't appear to suffer the same fate. The UK certainly has a large medical research sector, but most of this is formed of large monolithic companies who hire researchers for the purpose. In terms of medical startups, it's not particularly strong. It seems the UK is good at innovation, but only when it's monopolized or institutionalized.
Posted by: Peter Cooper at July 30, 2005 02:43 PMThere was an interesting piece in the Guardian last week talking about how a lack of language skills in the UK causes too be myoptic about opportunities in the other European countries.
While I agree with you that the US is a massive market and has structures that make it easy to be a start-up it's not all good news. The US is also an extremely competitive market and the chances of your "product" being substituted are significant. I also think that the Net in general is odd in that it has always looked to the US.
There may be an opportunity in taking innovation ideas (such as Web 2.0) from the US and presenting them to mainland Europe. Some of the east european countries are going to see tremendous growth over the next few years. That way at least you can take advantage of 'being in the middle' rather than trying to fight against it!
Steve
Posted by: Steve George at August 1, 2005 05:02 PMGood points, Steve, but I think the lack of a foundation in these other countries has harmed the idea of taking Web 2.0 there. France's Internet culture is more regressed than, say, India's. It's not just language, but a lack of the "culture" of the Internet in those countries. The UK's net culture is weaker than the US's, but is strong enough to just about maintain its own market. Other European countries are hard to penetrate because their Net populace is smaller, and the culture is radically different net-wise. Some good comments though, and I am sure this will all change.
Posted by: Peter Cooper at August 1, 2005 07:33 PMPeter,
I was sad to read your analysis of the UK marketplace, as I am originally from the UK. I was wondering how the UK compares to the US on a per capita basis in terms of investment etc? 290m vs 60m.
Also, if France has three million bloggers, something must be happening there. We recently released a report about online technology, and I've seen lots of posts in German and French, but only a few from the UK. I am wondering if France's internet culture is as regressed as you suggest?
Regards
John
Posted by: john cass at August 3, 2005 03:16 AMBoston, MA
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