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Taking Risk

tomblomfield.com

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Re: Taking Risk

#4

Post by petesergeant »

I have degrees from two of the universities he mentioned, and am currently in the process of raising. He says both:

> I don’t think it’s any longer about access to capital.

but also:

> many UK investors take an extremely risk-averse view to new business - I lost count of the times that a British investor would ask for me a 3 year cash-flow forecast

Which I think are in conflict.

I feel like my biggest take-away from doing an Entrepreneurship degree at the UK university with probably the best startup ecosystem was: "you'll get a much bigger valuation raising in the US", and while I have some connections that mean I will shop around in Europe and the UK, I am going to spend most of my energy raising in the US. I'm highly mobile and not especially bothered where I have to live to get this done.

Re: Taking Risk

#5

Post by artemonster »

I think the article also avoided a huge topic about risk averse companies that are your customers, if you are b2b. In US, if you are a young startup, and your solution can save huge amounts of money, you will get your chance to make your pitch to "big guns", as their incentive structures allow them to take risks and reward them, i.e. "here is % of these millions you saved integrating this new solution".

In Europe the old rusty impotent gray-haired managers wont even listen to you, even if you offer them a goddamn magic bean or a money printer machine. And why would they? They risk a lot and gain almost nothing, as there are no reward structures that incentivize risk in any shape or form.

Re: Taking Risk

#6

Post by colesantiago »

The UK isn't really known for being an ambitious nation when it comes to the startup ecosystem.

For jobs, unless you're working in finance in London, for tech salaries (except for FAANG) it is simply no surprise that it is so low on average [0] that isn't even worth it.

What is more damning is that I saw an internship in the US earn more than a job posting of Head of Cyber Security at the HM Treasury which is $50-57K yr (senior level)

Doesn't matter if you went to the golden triangle of universities, it is much better to get a remote job in the US. each time.

As for startups, in the UK there is almost no connections here for VCs, angels or any investment network this might have changed in the few years but you would have to squint hard to find them.

[0] https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/london-tech-salary-SRCH...

Re: Taking Risk

#7

Post by rwmj »

The expected returns from "want[ing] to go and work at companies like McKinsey, Goldman Sachs or Google" are both greater and more certain, so perhaps the individual young people are acting quite rationally in the UK?

For context I spent years in my 20s doing start ups in London, and undoubtedly would have been better off financially now if I'd worked for some soul-sucking consultancy instead. I do agree with him that raising money in the UK is quite hard.

Re: Taking Risk

#8

Post by DeathArrow »

colesantiago wrote: post #6

The UK isn't really known for being an ambitious nation when it comes to the startup ecosystem. For jobs, unless you're working in finance in London, for tech salaries (except for FAANG) it is simply no surprise that it is so low on average [0] that isn't even worth it. What is more damning is that I saw an internship in the US earn more than a job posting of Head of Cyber Security at the HM Treasury which is $50-57K…

>The UK isn't really known for being an ambitious nation.

They've ruled the seas and half of the earth for centuries. They've ruled commerce and industry for centuries.

Isn't that a proof of ambitions?

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