4 ms·

RWW Never Mind the Valley: Here's London

19 points by marklittlewood 17y ago

jgrahamc 17y ago
My start-up is here in London: http://causata.com/ http://causata.com/
- revorad 17y ago
  Surely if you are based in Mayfair, you are not just a "startup"? :-p
revorad 17y ago
Couple of good London startups I know from friends : http://www.nestoria.com/ http://www.nestoria.com/ Property search engine, which is doing really well, profitable and spreading base across Europe. Started by ex-Yahoo people. http://www.mendeley.com/ http://www.mendeley.com/ "Like iTunes™ for research papers. Mendeley is a free research management tool for desktop & web."
- adw 17y ago
  The hub thing is kind of taking off here. VentureBeat wrote about the building Mendeley are in - http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/12/18/white-bear-yard-london/ http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/12/18/white-bear-yard-lo... I think Playfire are setting one up over in Soho too. There's also the RIG/BERG axis (http://berglondon.com/ http://berglondon.com/, http://reallyinterestinggroup.com/ http://reallyinterestinggroup.com/ who do Newspaper Club) over in Scrutton Street, and I think Songkick share space with someone (maybe Moo?)
  - pclark 17y ago
    Songkick and Habit Industries (both YC) share an office and rent a few more desks out to young startups. I think it was Dopplr that used to work out of Moos offices.
  - revorad 17y ago
    That sounds cool. Timetric looks very good. How long have you guys been around? I'm working on a startup in a similar space (see profile for details).
    - adw 17y ago
      Fulltime about eighteen months. We were one of the winners at Mini Seedcamp London last year.
      - revorad 17y ago
        Wow, congrats! Are you coming out with a paid product anytime soon?
- dagw 17y ago
  Mendeley looks awesome. I didn't know I needed until I saw it, yet now that I've seen I realize it is exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for.
pierrefar 17y ago
It's interesting to see how Cambridge is playing into this ecosystem. There quite a few very interesting startups here, but clearly we're still in London's growing shadow. For example, lots of Cambridge companies have London offices.
- adw 17y ago
  We're a Cambridge company who just moved to London.
  - pierrefar 17y ago
    I would have loved to meet you guys. Been really busy lately though but now slightly more free. If you ever come up to Cambridge, drop me an email. It's in my profile.
    - adw 17y ago
      I still live in Cambridge (for, oh, a week and a bit all being well). We'll be around loads.
flashingpumpkin 17y ago
Greetings from a fellow Londoner :)
ionfish 17y ago
Lots of startups around Silicon Roundabout. http://siliconroundabout.ning.com/ http://siliconroundabout.ning.com/
- flashingpumpkin 17y ago
  This seems quite spammy -> "Canadian online pharmacy". Someone should moderate this. ;) [edit] Wee. Just had a look at the forums. That doesn't really seem usefull.
  - ionfish 17y ago
    It had a bit more in the way of relevant, recent content when I last checked it (about a year ago). Just google "Silicon Roundabout" if the Ning group isn't helpful.
- danw 17y ago
  The wired version might be a bit more reliable currently http://www.flickr.com/photos/blech/4256983160/sizes/l/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/blech/4256983160/sizes/l/
adw 17y ago
Actually, is there a big list of London-based startups anywhere? There must be close to three figures, even if you only count the consumerish Web ones. There's umpty-billion hedge funds and financial technology houses.
pclark 17y ago
How valuable is location if you're not in SV? New York seems pretty great for media companies. But what about else where? What is Londons calling (zing)? Is there notable value in groups of startups being together other than the PG "don't ever stop typing" social aspects? Whilst that is valueable, a lot of startups go to SV for the visibility and proximity to the exit acquirers.
gstar 17y ago
Azeem is spot on about what UK startups face, but here's a couple more overriding themes that I've observed: - There's a culture of "what's in it for me?", so it's hard to get advisors or put together an advisory board without getting out your cheque book. People in the valley (outwardly) seem to be more willing to take a chance, and trust that they'll get looked after in the event the business goes well. Not as much altruism in London. - The UK is more risk-averse than the valley, you don't just need a vision, a prototype and a quality team, you need all that plus traction and profit before you fall inside investors appetite for risk.
petesmithy 17y ago
We (Songkick, yc s2007) have a floor of a warehouse just up the road from Silicon Roundabout. There are about 8 startups based at our place (including Habit Industries, also yc s2007). This post gives a really measured, non-sensatinal view of what it's like to start up in London. We're really enjoying building Songkick here.. It's changed for the better even in the two years we've been starting up. Btw - we have deskspace going at our place - see here: http://www.gumtree.com/london/17/50884217.html http://www.gumtree.com/london/17/50884217.html

My start-up is here in London: http://causata.com/ http://causata.com/

revorad 17y ago
Surely if you are based in Mayfair, you are not just a "startup"? :-p

Couple of good London startups I know from friends : http://www.nestoria.com/ http://www.nestoria.com/ Property search engine, which is doing really well, profitable and spreading base across Europe. Started by ex-Yahoo people. http://www.mendeley.com/ http://www.mendeley.com/ "Like iTunes™ for research papers. Mendeley is a free research management tool for desktop & web."

adw 17y ago
The hub thing is kind of taking off here. VentureBeat wrote about the building Mendeley are in - http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/12/18/white-bear-yard-london/ http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/12/18/white-bear-yard-lo... I think Playfire are setting one up over in Soho too. There's also the RIG/BERG axis (http://berglondon.com/ http://berglondon.com/, http://reallyinterestinggroup.com/ http://reallyinterestinggroup.com/ who do Newspaper Club) over in Scrutton Street, and I think Songkick share space with someone (maybe Moo?)
- pclark 17y ago
  Songkick and Habit Industries (both YC) share an office and rent a few more desks out to young startups. I think it was Dopplr that used to work out of Moos offices.
- revorad 17y ago
  That sounds cool. Timetric looks very good. How long have you guys been around? I'm working on a startup in a similar space (see profile for details).
  - adw 17y ago
    Fulltime about eighteen months. We were one of the winners at Mini Seedcamp London last year.
    - revorad 17y ago
      Wow, congrats! Are you coming out with a paid product anytime soon?
dagw 17y ago
Mendeley looks awesome. I didn't know I needed until I saw it, yet now that I've seen I realize it is exactly the sort of thing I've been looking for.

pierrefar 17y ago

It's interesting to see how Cambridge is playing into this ecosystem. There quite a few very interesting startups here, but clearly we're still in London's growing shadow. For example, lots of Cambridge companies have London offices.

adw 17y ago
We're a Cambridge company who just moved to London.
- pierrefar 17y ago
  I would have loved to meet you guys. Been really busy lately though but now slightly more free. If you ever come up to Cambridge, drop me an email. It's in my profile.
  - adw 17y ago
    I still live in Cambridge (for, oh, a week and a bit all being well). We'll be around loads.

flashingpumpkin 17y ago

Greetings from a fellow Londoner :)

ionfish 17y ago

Lots of startups around Silicon Roundabout. http://siliconroundabout.ning.com/ http://siliconroundabout.ning.com/

flashingpumpkin 17y ago
This seems quite spammy -> "Canadian online pharmacy". Someone should moderate this. ;) [edit] Wee. Just had a look at the forums. That doesn't really seem usefull.
- ionfish 17y ago
  It had a bit more in the way of relevant, recent content when I last checked it (about a year ago). Just google "Silicon Roundabout" if the Ning group isn't helpful.
danw 17y ago
The wired version might be a bit more reliable currently http://www.flickr.com/photos/blech/4256983160/sizes/l/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/blech/4256983160/sizes/l/

adw 17y ago

Actually, is there a big list of London-based startups anywhere? There must be close to three figures, even if you only count the consumerish Web ones. There's umpty-billion hedge funds and financial technology houses.

pclark 17y ago

How valuable is location if you're not in SV? New York seems pretty great for media companies. But what about else where? What is Londons calling (zing)? Is there notable value in groups of startups being together other than the PG "don't ever stop typing" social aspects? Whilst that is valueable, a lot of startups go to SV for the visibility and proximity to the exit acquirers.

gstar 17y ago

Azeem is spot on about what UK startups face, but here's a couple more overriding themes that I've observed: - There's a culture of "what's in it for me?", so it's hard to get advisors or put together an advisory board without getting out your cheque book. People in the valley (outwardly) seem to be more willing to take a chance, and trust that they'll get looked after in the event the business goes well. Not as much altruism in London. - The UK is more risk-averse than the valley, you don't just need a vision, a prototype and a quality team, you need all that plus traction and profit before you fall inside investors appetite for risk.

petesmithy 17y ago

We (Songkick, yc s2007) have a floor of a warehouse just up the road from Silicon Roundabout. There are about 8 startups based at our place (including Habit Industries, also yc s2007). This post gives a really measured, non-sensatinal view of what it's like to start up in London. We're really enjoying building Songkick here.. It's changed for the better even in the two years we've been starting up. Btw - we have deskspace going at our place - see here: http://www.gumtree.com/london/17/50884217.html http://www.gumtree.com/london/17/50884217.html