Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

sifted.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 261 posts

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#101

Post by busterarm »

exdsq wrote: post #94
matthewmorgan wrote: post #29

It's pretty common in Europe for people to get a socially-funded education then go off to the USA. It's called brain drain and has been happening for a while, not sure why this guy needs to write an article pretending that's not what's happening here.

Moving to the US from Europe isn't that easy. I only made the move because my wife is a postdoc over here, but with things like H1-B freezes and covid-19 it can be very difficult to do.

I've worked with a lot of Europeans and overwhelmingly they are not on H-1B visas.

Green cards, L-1, O-1 and spouse visas are the way to go.

Getting an O-1 visa in the software space is a lot easier than you think, especially with the way the software industry works in Europe (it's a much smaller pool with a higher average level of education and way more public speaking & publishing opportunities) in general the requirements are easier than if I were to have to try for it.

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#102

Post by busterarm »

c7DJTLrn wrote: post #43

Sounds like the author is upset that Brexit has closed the valve on the pipeline of cheap labour from EU workers. There's no shortage of talent in London trust me, it's just that you're going to have to start paying more than a pittance to get it. Brexit so far has been a positive thing for tech workers' salaries.

The labor pool isn't any cheaper in NYC. Salaries are significantly higher than London.

He's in for a harsh reality.

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#103

Post by busterarm »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #62
varjag wrote: post #44

Likely a prequel to "leaving NYC for SF".

Wherever he goes his problems will follow him. The US won't be a utopia when it comes to hiring PhD's with sales skills either.

I can't think of a worse group of people to try and make do sales.

Good sales requires cultivating the right environment for good sales people. That means you need good pipeline. Sales people are blood-thirsty mercenaries who go wherever the most pipeline is so that they can maximize their personal income. They're short-term minded people who only care about results over the next quarter.

Ph.Ds are inherently delayed-gratification types of people. Salespeople are thrill-seekers (aka, always crash the sales department's parties if you want to have the best time).

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#104

Post by busterarm »

dukeyukey wrote: post #74
mg wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since we are talking about internet companies - why is the home market important?

Language, culture, regulation - it's not just a matter of reach. Like, imagine a successful-at-home French startup wanting to expand internationally. First, unless you're happy staying in the confines of the old French Empire, you're gonna need to translate everything, definitely to English, maybe to German or Spanish. Second, your app is built with French attitudes in mind. Chances are you're gonna have to change th…

Yes, this so much!!!

Everything about US-based companies' success globally has to do with the fact that we've had a head-start on exporting our culture through media.

Everyone in the world has some idea in their head (regardless of how true) of what Americans are like. Can you say the same for the French? Germans? Portuguese?

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#105

Post by dragonwriter »

busterarm wrote: post #104
dukeyukey wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Language, culture, regulation - it's not just a matter of reach. Like, imagine a successful-at-home French startup wanting to expand internationally. First, unless you're happy staying in the confines of the old French Empire, you're gonna need to translate everything, definitely to English, maybe to German or Spanish. Second, your app is built with French attitudes in mind. Chances are you're gonna have to change th…

Yes, this so much!!! Everything about US-based companies' success globally has to do with the fact that we've had a head-start on exporting our culture through media. Everyone in the world has some idea in their head (regardless of how true) of what Americans are like. Can you say the same for the French? Germans? Portuguese?

> Everything about US-based companies' success globally has to do with the fact that we've had a head-start on exporting our culture through media.

A lot of it has to do with the fact that there is a close relationship between our companies, our government, and the application of our considerable intelligence and military resources, too.

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#106

Post by 46Bit »

exdsq wrote: post #88
jgrahamc wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cloudflare's London office remains large and important. We've built up Lisbon as an alternative location in part to give folks a choice between London and a continental European city and in part because we are hiring so fast it's good to hire in multiple places.

Why not just open to remote hiring across Europe then, rather than be location-dependent?

They're doing that as well https://www.cloudflare.com/careers/jobs/

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#107

Post by Angostura »

iso1210 wrote: post #33
KaiserPro wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

London does sales well, if you want a sales office you open it in london. What it doesn't do well is spaff money indiscriminately at any old idiot with an idea. Even less so to someone with a crap idea. Despite the article author's claim, most of the startups in the generation that I joined (2018+) have focused on getting a decent business model, rather than hyper growth above all else. They also had to do much more…

> What it doesn't do well is spaff money indiscriminately at any old idiot with an idea. That's what government's for

Well that and all that boring but important infrastructure that means you have the pleasure of living in a viable society, rather than a hellscape.

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#108

Post by Quarrelsome »

ed_balls wrote: post #23
jgrahamc wrote: post #6

Beyond that, I believe that Europe’s (particularly Britain’s) negative cultural attitude towards sales is a major inhibitor to building tech champions on the same scale as the US or China. In my thirteen years of working in the UK, I’ve learnt that in British culture sales and selling is viewed negatively. The linked HBR article talks about self-promotion not sales. That seems quite different to me. And speaking from…

I used to work for a startup founded by a few Brits. We had engineers in London, but no sales people, because of the culture. I was much easier to sell to Walmart than Tesco.

like the author we're light on details beyond "the culture", "bad at sales". What does this _mean_ exactly?

Re: I’m leaving London for NYC and taking my tech startup

#110

Post by Quarrelsome »

So what does he mean exactly? He just says some vague stuff about "bad at sales" and smth about the "culture" without actually giving any examples of what he really means. He mentions Brexit, mentions hiring then says it's not as big a deal as "sales". Then mentions EU funding for workers, then stops talking.

So what does he mean? Do British sales people not bother contacting anyone, do all British customers hate sales people and tell them to sod off? This is like Brexit all over when someone mentions some vague thing and everyone starts commenting with their own interpretation of what it means but nobody bothers to pin down what it actually means. What does it mean? I have no clue at all. I felt like I knew more before I read this article than after.

Post reply on HN