Re: UKNM: Three cheers Amazon UK

[Nick Sweeney]

> This maybe terribly naive, but if somebody in the UK has a good enough

> idea, then what is to stop them going to get capital from the US, where by

> all accounts the streets are paved with it? Why didn't bookpages get over

> there and insist that they could be a european Amazon if properly backed?


American VCs aren't stupid. It's easier and more profitable to back a

not-particularly-brilliant startup in the States than a stormer in

Europe. As I've mentioned in a previous post, the taxation system,

combined with a NASDAQ IPO opportunity, means that it's possible to make a

quick buck.


Compare: eBay (hugely overvalued on NASDAQ) and Quixell.


Also, the US remains a remarkably introspective market. Not surprising,

given the number of potential customers within the US/Canada area, and the

lack of disincentives to get connected.


> For the record, its a lot harder to get VC in the north of the UK than it

> is in the SE - doesn't make it impossible to set up a business though

> (although it may be that a lot more people in the south lose their cash on

> 1/2-baked ideas). You go where the money is, and then bring it on home. 


That's a bit different, though. It's to do with localised perspectives.

And also because uk.new.media is essentially confined to the SE of

England; the freelance nature of the industry means that the labour force

is localised and mobilised within the M25 area (with the exception of the

growing Brighton scene.)


It's the same London/provinces dichotomy that exists in all media, though.

London is national, local is failure. If you're not in London, the

thinking goes, then why not? You've not made it and you're not going to

make it. Desperately wrong-headed, given the nature of our medium. And

very limiting when it comes to expanding the market beyond the SE.


Nick

-- 

	      http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/~nsweeney/head/

    "A letter always arrives at its destination." - Jacques Lacan