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

How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 374 posts

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#31

Post by lifestyleguru »

ojhughes wrote: post #28
lifestyleguru wrote: post #23

I wonder who are these people willing to work in London and transfer 60% of their net income directly to landlord. Maybe money doesn't matter because most of the time they spend in work and commuting?

Isn’t it the same deal in every major tech hub?

In other European "tech hubs" you're not going to find a job or will not be able to rent anything.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#32

Post by colesantiago »

While startup capital flows in, the growth story is very different, and for those living in the UK, it isn't what it seems.

There aren't any jobs in the UK and most are offshored to other low CoL countries.

Young people, founders are leaving for other places like Dubai, Singapore and even SF for higher paying jobs.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#33

Post by [deleted] »

philipwhiuk wrote: post #11
sp1982 wrote: post #9

Yup, London has consistently showing up in geographic hotspots in my job postings data. I think it could be also be due to success of companies like DeepMind. https://jobswithgpt.com/blog/global_software-engineering_job...

Another British company swallowed by the US :(

[deleted]

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#34

Post by hadlock »

kjellsbells wrote: post #24

Is this really surprising? London picks up all the advantages of the UK (legal system is sound, eg in contract law, native speakers of English, the lingua franca of business, strong university tradition) and adds in its special sauce: access to the City, global-tier culture, excellent public transport (I know we moan about it, but it really is excellent), and a timezone location that easily serves the US and Asia mar…

Startups might thrive there, but business investment in England (particularly in mature businesses) has not exactly been lively ever since Brexit. I can't recall the last time I heard someone talking favorably about investing in England, or at all, really.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#36

Post by alephnerd »

kaashif wrote: post #4
claude_sh_1959 wrote: post #2

Smells like marketing stuff.. there are plenty of other places that i think are better.

It's not based on marketing, it appears to be based on metrics like amount of venture capital raised.

Having a London domicile often leads to an overstating in venture capital raised for the UK ecosystem.

For example, I've funded Polish and Indian startups that chose the UK as their legal domicile because we couldn't be bothered to hire a legal team to draft a contract to Polish or Indian specifications.

Builder.ai [0] is a great example of that - it was an Indian startup that was domiciled in London to simplify raising capital from Gulf investors.

[0] - https://www.ft.com/content/926f4969-fda7-4e78-b106-4888c8704...

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#37

Post by personjerry »

claude_sh_1959 wrote: post #2

Smells like marketing stuff.. there are plenty of other places that i think are better.

I'm waiting for the yearly "Waterloo is the Silicon Valley of Canada" article that always fails to deliver its promise.

I grew up in Waterloo but it's just not it lol.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#38

Post by dangus »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #23

I wonder who are these people willing to work in London and transfer 60% of their net income directly to landlord. Maybe money doesn't matter because most of the time they spend in work and commuting?

The math works out for almost every HCOL area. Your salary is higher. Rent is high too but people either choose to live further away or accept a smaller apartment/condo.

London has a big commuting radius with strong regional transit (as maligned as it is).

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#39

Post by retinaros »

ojhughes wrote: post #28
lifestyleguru wrote: post #23

I wonder who are these people willing to work in London and transfer 60% of their net income directly to landlord. Maybe money doesn't matter because most of the time they spend in work and commuting?

Isn’t it the same deal in every major tech hub?

London is #1 at that. You earn a bit more than rest of europe but everything is way more expensive

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#40

Post by graemep »

kjellsbells wrote: post #24

Is this really surprising? London picks up all the advantages of the UK (legal system is sound, eg in contract law, native speakers of English, the lingua franca of business, strong university tradition) and adds in its special sauce: access to the City, global-tier culture, excellent public transport (I know we moan about it, but it really is excellent), and a timezone location that easily serves the US and Asia mar…

Is deep enough pool of capital for the vast majority of businesses.

Its cultural diversity is a plus for most people (other than people like DHH).

The big problem with London is that it is very, very expensive.

Post reply on HN