Re: UKNM: Three cheers Amazon UK

[Tom Loosemore]

>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?


Cos distance really does matter to VCs.


West coast high-tech VCs will happily listen to your idea, and nod their

heads accordingly when you hit the right buttons, but the moment you

mention the kind of capital  appropriate  (at a guess bookpages would've

needed 8 figures to compete with Amazon in Europe) their guts go all

squiffy cos the scale of suggested investment is high *in the UK context*. 


Given equivalent business plans, in a SF VC's gut an 8 figure investment

that would be a no-brainer for a start-up in SF is much more scary if the

concern is in London (eg "people just don't invest on that scale over

there" "this would be the biggest injection of VC capital yet for a

european internet compnay" "how do I monitor the performance of management?")


And their guts are probably right - VCs like to be near to their charges

for a reason. One SF VC I met admitted  that "travel time from our office"

was an important factor in the yes/no decision. 


Have any of the more aggressive US VCs opened satellite offices in London ?

Or I like Sean's NY option - I suspect NY  high-tech VC is much more geared

up to investing a a range greater than a 50 mile radius of central san

jose.... did you try west coast VC first sean?