11–20 of 45 posts
I used to go to quite a few tech events in London but found I was spending too much time with like-minded people (techies) and not enough with people who had other backgrounds and interests.
These days I pretty much just go to LRUG once a month to socialise with the good friends I've made there over the years.
HN strikes me as a fairly diverse group though, so I'd be interested in going to the next meetup.
That really surprised me too. In my experience there certainly isn't any shortage of web startups in London, so I have to wonder why so few of them come to an HN event. Off the top of my head, possible options: 1. Startups don't engage on HN, or don't feel part of the community. This seems pretty unlikely. 2. (London) HN readers are predominantly people in full time jobs, or just not entrepreneurial. 3. Startups are…
4. They network elsewhere Many views on why they do, and why it's so fragmented. But fragmented it is. 5. London is flat and wide with the startups not centralised Not everyone is around Old St, and even those who are might still be grinding out code when the meetup started and then just opt not to walk in halfway through. For the ones further out, timings and stuff might put them off. People don't live around their…
Honestly, and this is not a criticism, that evening felt much more like "talk about programmer stuff" than it did "talk about startup stuff". There were a couple of good talks about the business of startups, and the rest felt like coding, or pitches, or both (and again, this is not a criticism).
If you use MSN messenger ... add me as a contact. (That goes for everyone else) alainrichardt [at] hotmail.com
cheers
Alain
That really surprised me too. In my experience there certainly isn't any shortage of web startups in London, so I have to wonder why so few of them come to an HN event. Off the top of my head, possible options: 1. Startups don't engage on HN, or don't feel part of the community. This seems pretty unlikely. 2. (London) HN readers are predominantly people in full time jobs, or just not entrepreneurial. 3. Startups are…
It's a combination of 3 and 1, I'd wager. I've worked in startup environments in both the UK and the US. In the US, being an entrepreneur is seen as a good thing, and people bond, mesh, and engage as a result of their common interest in stepping off the standard path. In the UK... not so much. The vast majority of founders I know are a) busy working their nuts off and b) pretty bitter, due to the UK attitude to entre…
I have heard this attitude mentioned a few times but it is something that I have never encountered (I really cannot think of a single instance). I feel very lucky for this, but also surprised/dismayed that people can be so negative about others who go an such an adventure.
Keep your head down, know you are doing the right thing. Speaking of which, I need to write some code...
Rob actually asked "who is thinking of starting a startup soon, or has done so in the past couple of months", which may have prevented people who have started a startup or have been employed by one from raising their hands.
I live in London and am currently trying to get my startup off the ground. I am also an avid reader of HN, and was considering going to last nights event. Due to work pressures, i.e. launching soon, I saw it better to spend my time working on my startup than going to the HN event. I have 2 children, and work from home, so I need to grab any opportunity I can to work. Also, there are now lots of startup events in Lond…
Like you I'm working away furiously trying to get the MVP out the door so we can start doing some testing.
While I'm very positive about HN, I feel that in some ways attending stuff like HN meetups seems like a bit of a popularity contest, "look at me!".
I live in London and work for a Boston-based startup with a small office here. So, not actually a London startup. But I'd be interested in attending one those meetups in the future. Where are those events announced btw?