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Comment by adaml_623 | Hacker News Reader

Can I ask a question back? You were obviously in a UK startup. Why don't you want to invest in the UK?

Not judging here. Just curious as I'm scoping out the startup 'scene' in London.

Good question: Yes I was in a UK startup. I feel that the risk adverse nature/attitude we came across significantly impedes innovation in the UK (remember this is in my experience and this was around 2001-2005). I believe we had to work harder to overcome this and this took focus away from our core activities at times. We often found no one was willing to invest unless you had 5 years of track record and £1mill/yr turnover and if you where doing something disruptive (like we were) and innovative in a new market, then it was even harder. So I guess I feel there is more chance that good startup WITH cash will fail due to being crushed by this problem. Plus I think the US is known for its better startup fostering nature and work ethic as suggested in this article. http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/11/20/european-startups-need-t...

Wooly reasons but having said all that, times have changed and I'm not against UK startups at all, I would just like to look at US ones first... I suppose if a UK startup was doing something disruptive in healthcare I might be more interested!

So your point is that even if you can get the Angel cash in the UK you'll face larger hurdles in the later stages compared to the US.

And I think you have a point about the risk adverse nature of Brits.

Thanks for the answer. Wish I had an answer to your question :-)

Good summary of my waffle ;) I suppose the stats of startups making it out of the 5th year is appalling. Less than 10% as I recall which may be similar to US but every extra hurdle in the way doesn't help either! Plus US markets are generally larger so ROI is bigger for similar risk profile at a guess.

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