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Taking Risk

tomblomfield.com

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Re: Taking Risk

#151

Post by robertlagrant »

Aromasin wrote: post #95
reedf1 wrote: post #22

I considered a startup after university in the UK. The talent arbitrage is absurd, physics grads with 1sts from top Russell Group unis fighting to be paid £30k/yr. For me it came down to security, life is expensive, rent is expensive. I didn't have a spare parental garage to setup five computers - I barely had room in my flat for one desk . I barely had money for that flat let alone internet, and food. I had zero cap…

I'm in the same boat. I've been chasing my tail for the last 6 years, just trying to keep my head above water financially. I'm a computer hardware engineer so the pickings are slim to none outside of the military-industrial complex, which pays shit outside of sales and executive management. Ended up at one of the big US semiconductor companies where I got paid 1/3rd of what my peers in the US earn, with similar expen…

I honestly think if you asked the average Brit on the street what an engineer was, they'd say "it's someone who MOTs your car".

Re: Taking Risk

#152

Post by matwood »

reedf1 wrote: post #22

I considered a startup after university in the UK. The talent arbitrage is absurd, physics grads with 1sts from top Russell Group unis fighting to be paid £30k/yr. For me it came down to security, life is expensive, rent is expensive. I didn't have a spare parental garage to setup five computers - I barely had room in my flat for one desk . I barely had money for that flat let alone internet, and food. I had zero cap…

The UK is a giant version of the Cayman Islands. It's a big bank providing financial services to rich people while keeping them anonymous. Everything else is secondary. And Brexit only made it worse.

Re: Taking Risk

#153

Post by throwaway22032 »

The UK is simply a significantly more zero sum economy than the US due to a combination of mindset and physical reality.

Examples of mindset:

- disincentivising rentals, home building, small business, general animosity between classes

Examples of physical reality:

- small land mass without much space left to grow, lack of natural resources.

The US outside of a few places doesn't operate in that way.

Re: Taking Risk

#155

Post by light_triad »

There's many factors that make Europe less competitive than the US: small fractured markets, low salaries, high cost of living relative to wages, Brexit costs, fear of being labeled a failure, working to live, focus on worker's rights, stability, and pensions, general risk aversion etc.

A big issue is there's a lack of mega successes high margin software businesses that pump knowledge and money back into the startup ecosystem. From a cultural standpoint, some countries like France are also obsessed with credentials and what you could call a notion of 'innate superiority'.

The end results is a VC ecosystem filled with young finance types that went to locally famous schools with little experience in startups that deploy small amounts with deal terms that would be considered absurd in the US.

Re: Taking Risk

#156

Post by jbms »

Cynical theory, the UK is now full of the descendants of all those who said "Emigrating? That will never work", and that's set the culture. Grafters and optimists have had many opportunities to leave over recent centuries.

Re: Taking Risk

#157

Post by uxcolumbo »

matwood wrote: post #152
reedf1 wrote: post #22

I considered a startup after university in the UK. The talent arbitrage is absurd, physics grads with 1sts from top Russell Group unis fighting to be paid £30k/yr. For me it came down to security, life is expensive, rent is expensive. I didn't have a spare parental garage to setup five computers - I barely had room in my flat for one desk . I barely had money for that flat let alone internet, and food. I had zero cap…

The UK is a giant version of the Cayman Islands. It's a big bank providing financial services to rich people while keeping them anonymous. Everything else is secondary. And Brexit only made it worse.

That sounds depressing af.

Do you see a way out? If so what is it?

Re: Taking Risk

#158

Post by masfuerte »

foldr wrote: post #130
gambiting wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And also don't forget the student fees for international students have absolutely exploded. 10 years ago the fees for international students were £6k/year, now it's £30k/year. Like honestly, who can afford this, when you can study at most other EU universities completely free(or even get a stipend in fact). >>as they UK government is constricting the supply of student visas (because immigration) Can't stop myself thi…

It's extraordinary how determined the current UK government is to destroy its university sector. The economic and geopolitical advantages of having one of the world's best university systems are not only incalculable but also blindingly obvious . And yet apparently not too obvious to be missed by the caliber of person that currently makes up the cabinet.

There has been a precipitous drop in overseas university applications for the coming academic year. It was reported today that Cameron has warned Sunak that his visa reforms are likely to lead to university closures. The cabinet is aware of the problem but I don't think there is any limit to the damage Sunak is prepared to do when he believes it will improve Tory election chances.

Re: Taking Risk

#159

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

jbms wrote: post #156

Cynical theory, the UK is now full of the descendants of all those who said "Emigrating? That will never work", and that's set the culture. Grafters and optimists have had many opportunities to leave over recent centuries.

You maybe right. I think the UK and Canada share similar problems. Low risk taking, real estate as the only investment, pulling each other down like crabs, appeal to authority.

The US for all its faults, is the land of hope and can do. I have travelled a lot in the world but somehow places like Miami, New York, SF, Vegas, Dallas and a bunch of other cities have this palpalable energy that you can do anything that you want.

Re: Taking Risk

#160

Post by TulliusCicero »

dan-robertson wrote: post #81
TulliusCicero wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The claims are hyper ambitious, that's not the same thing as being nonsense. Aiming extremely high isn't somehow fraudulent. Lots of kids have plans to become pro athletes and almost all fail, but that doesn't mean all those plans were nonsense to begin with.

Lots of the claims made by startups to VCs would be considered fraud if they were ever tried in court, which they aren’t because starting such a lawsuit would be terrible for the VC, and the VCs weren’t really defrauded because they correctly understood the claims to be highly exaggerated. The difference here is in cultural standards for what it means for a startup’s claims to be true.

Most of the time they're more "aims" than "claims", are they not? Startups want to capture x% of a market, and they'll say they think they can do it, but probably won't make it sound like they're actually guaranteeing it.

Maybe I'm missing something about startup claims that are actually fraudulent, rather than hopelessly optimistic.

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