

Ask HN: Any hackers from the UK (or Europe)? - sam191

I've been wondering what the startup scene is like in the UK, or Europe in general. I'm a college student in Seattle and was thinking of moving to the Valley after I finish (for grad school possibly). But now I'm thinking about going to Europe, mainly the UK.<p>This is to anyone outside of the US really. What is it like as a hacker outside of the US? How is the startup scene or tech scene like where you live? What are the advantages and disadvantages of starting a startup, from your experience, in your area? And if you had the choice, would you move to the Valley?<p>Also, this is my firs post, so I apologies in advance if something is not right.
======
davidw
Europe is great, but I wouldn't recommend it for startups. It's fine for tech
(especially open source), but the marriage of tech and business that exists in
the US in certain spots (like SV) just hasn't gelled here yet.

~~~
revorad
Hi David, can you please say more about why you don't recommend Europe? How's
your own company's experience been?

No doubt Silicon valley is ahead as far as startup hubs go, but I don't think
we are helping the business community in Europe by just accepting that as an
unchangeable situation.

~~~
davidw
Well, first of all, there's the standard "Europe is not one country"
disclaimer, let's get that out of the way. The UK and Ireland are probably
better than continental Europe in terms of startup costs.

My point is basically that, all other things being equal, for an American
(such as the guy who posted this), you're going to have an easier time of it
staying home, since 'home' is a pretty good place to do a startup.

------
revorad
I'm just starting up in London. I only know one startup here, but that's just
because I haven't bothered to look yet. My guess is that in Europe, London is
one of the big startup hubs. Last.fm was based here. Cambridge also has a
decent startup scene. HN user pclark's startup www.broadersheet.com is based
there.

Personally I think London's an awesome city to live in. Given it's not Silicon
Valley, but it's a vibrant exciting city. I love working here. I'm not looking
for funding but from what I hear there's a ton of venture capital too here.

Drop me a line if you come to London.

~~~
sam191
Thanks.

Yeah, I heard the UK was an awesome place to live. And personally, I am a firm
believer in bootstrapping startups, so venture capital isn't the first thing
on my mind. It's good to know that London is not far behind. And good luck
with your startup!

~~~
pclark
there is an american startup in Cambridge that are considering moving here
permanently for their startup. They moved here because of the Red Gate
Springboard programme.

Let me know if you wanna pick their brains about USA vs UK, and I'll intro
you.

~~~
sam191
That would be great. I'd love to hear their opinion on the UK vs US.

~~~
pclark
send me an email. in my profile.

------
authentic
comparing SV and the UK (where I live atm), it's very different.

in SV you will be meeting people working on a startup idea of some kind
literally everywhere, people are focused on maximizing potential upside rather
than minimizing downside, employees are willing to take some risk, and you
have an actual market for investment (i.e. there is a sizable number of equity
investors who will compete). i also think that UK people lack the level of
passion and greed I have seen in SV.

while there are other good reasons to be in the UK i would choose SV over the
UK for a startup anytime, especially if you are US based at the moment.

