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Comment by dabeeeenster | Hacker News Reader

I've worked in Shoreditch for over 6 years. The startup people here don't dress like they do in Silicon Valley. And people in the UK use the word Awesome all the time. It might be an Americanisation but it's not on account of people trying to be like Twitter, it's because of the A Team and Knight Rider.

If people are asking whether they should spell it colour or color, that's probably the reason they are not doing well! What a ridiculously pointless thing to worry about.

For me there is an elephant in the room regarding UK startups not achieving the same sort of success as they do in the US. It's quite simple. People in the UK are far more risk averse than people in the US. It's a completely cultural thing, and it's not going to change any time soon.

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I can't agree enough. I'm British, and I wouldn't want to change that for the world. But growing up in the UK, ambitious young engineers dream of going to work for Microsoft or having a successful career within a big accountancy firm. Entrepreneurship is something that happens to other people - stereotypically, middle-aged men tinkering in their garages with clockwork radios.

I've somehow ended up in Silicon Valley, and the difference in aspirations is immense. To some extent, people dream of running companies far before they are capable of doing so - but this is what, over time, lets them build the fearlessness they need. By getting used to being out of your depth you can focus on making your enterprise a success, rather than how scary it all is.

The irony is, with private health insurance and a limited welfare system, the penalty for taking a risk and failing can be a lot worse in the US than the UK. There's just some key cultural difference. It's the same aspect of character that makes Americans less afraid to strike up conversation with strangers.

> The irony is, with private health insurance and a limited welfare system, the penalty for taking a risk and failing can be a lot worse in the US than the UK.

You're assuming something about what happens when you fail in the US that isn't true.

> But growing up in the UK, ambitious young engineers dream of going to work for Microsoft or having a successful career within a big accountancy firm.

That "UK dream" is the US backup plan.

Seriously - health insurance and welfare isn't one of the things on my "what happens if I fail" list because I'll just go get a job.

Oh, and the health insurance costs aren't actually that significant. I know, because I've had the backup plan fail and had to do them out of pocket. Since I'm "old", I'm pretty much a worse case.

All this is totally dependent on your personal background.

It may well be easier if you're "old", since you've already had a chance to establish a career and make yourself hireable - but I can imagine it takes some balls to try to start a business immediately after graduating (or instead of going to college) unless you have a pretty good parental safety net. However, we see it all the time from US kids - and not so much from the UK.

> It may well be easier if you're "old", since you've already had a chance to establish a career and make yourself hireable

You're assuming something about age discrimination....

> I can imagine it takes some balls to try to start a business immediately after graduating (or instead of going to college)

Huh? Why are you assuming that a youngster is less hirable/desirable after the biz that they start fails? They're not, they're more hirable/desirable, at least in the US. (Of course, if they weren't very hireable before, that may carry over, but we're not talking about those folks.)

> unless you have a pretty good parental safety net.

That's not particularly relevant.

I'm English, and I don't think risk is anything to do with it. We have a culture in which success is almost considered something to be ashamed of. If someone does make a fortune in high-tech, they'll be lambasted as the hated "rich" who are apparently responsible for all the country's problems.

You know, the BBC calculated that only the top 30% of taxpayers are net contributors. There are 30M income tax payers in the UK, so that means 85% of the population get more out of the system than they put in. Rather than being grateful, they resent the 15% who give them everything for not giving even more. That is why in the UK, people keep their heads down.

OP is using the example of language to highlight a larger problem, not identifying it as a major problem in itself. That problem being aping US startups at the cost of an authentic, interesting local identity:

"To succeed UK tech companies must find the rich vein that defines the area that they are in or defines them as individuals. The thing that makes them interesting. It might be a genre, a technology, a specific problem that needs solving in their lives, a cultural phenomena (for ages SMSing was not popular in the US) or a style"

>If people are asking whether they should spell it colour or color, that's probably the reason they are not doing well! What a ridiculously pointless thing to worry about. //

It's presentation. It doesn't want to be top on your list but if the majority of your market is en-US then it seems a little silly to write in en-GB. The voice of your prose and your online presence can be an important part of the confidence a user has with your proposal/product. Moreover US America still carries a "cool" factor in some places that Her Brittanic Majesties domain and subjects do not.

There's also (anecdotally) the reverse effect, where GB > US, apparently on the basis that Americans are brash and crude, whilst the British are somehow more sophisticated.

I can't say that's been entirely my experience, but I've certainly heard it voiced a few times.

I'm inclined to agree here. I left the UK primarily because I felt the appetite for risk, and thus the potential for innovation, was significantly lower in the UK than SV. It's working out so far.

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