5 ms·

I am surprised no-one has mentioned, Cambridge. * 7% of all of European VC is invested in Cambridge (http://noweurope.com/2010/01/13/case-study-what-can-we-lea

by adamt 16y ago

I am surprised no-one has mentioned, Cambridge. * 7% of all of European VC is invested in Cambridge (http://noweurope.com/2010/01/13/case-study-what-can-we-learn-from-europes-most-successful-cluster/ http://noweurope.com/2010/01/13/case-study-what-can-we-learn...), which is not bad for a City of 125,000 people. * Close enough (50 mins by train) from London's ecosystem of VCs * Close to Stansted airport for easy access to the rest of Europe * Large density of tech companies, and tech competent employees. Similarly the professional advisors (lawyers/accountants) etc understand startups. * Costs are (generally speaking) considerably less than London. Most costs (rent, salaries, professional fees) are 20-33% cheaper than London. * Pleasant attractive historic town. * One of the world's best universities, along with a significant research presence from the likes of Microsoft ensures there's lots of smart people about. * For a long time Cambridge companies have been interesting startups but not made successful large businesses but the likes of ARM, Autonomy, CSR etc have all grown up to be billion dollar businesses.

Chris_Newton 16y ago
Agreed on almost everything (as a Cambridge guy with entrepreneurial tendencies). It's worth knowing that the average house price in Cambridge itself is now higher than the average in London, though, and that the local authorities are almost religiously anti-car, which makes the city centre area much less attractive (in a business sense). If I were planning a start-up with funding for significant numbers of staff, I would probably aim to be based on one of the business parks on the outskirts, or in one of the smaller towns/villages close by. That way, you're still within easy reach of the people, industry and support services, but day-to-day running costs and accessibility for local employees who don't want to walk/cycle in every day and for professional visitors driving to your premises are better.
- blasdel 16y ago
  Wow, you'd love Houston Texas! It seems a bit daft to be choosing a location based on the convenience of the hypothetical middle managers and mailroom employees you'll have in a successful future. Sure it's professional, but it isn't startup. Burn your business plan, remember?
  - Chris_Newton 16y ago
    > It seems a bit daft to be choosing a location based on the convenience of the hypothetical middle managers and mailroom employees you'll have in a successful future. It's not just the middle managers and mailroom staff, though. Most people in Cambridge don't live near the city centre, because it's an old city and much of the space is taken by either the university or business premises. There are, however, many residential areas on the outskirts, and a whole string of surrounding villages. Plenty of tech companies have set up in the middle of Cambridge, but with the transport policies of the local authorities, car access and parking is absurdly difficult. That makes it awkward to host visitors if you need to, and it is a genuine recruitment issue in that not everyone is willing to walk, cycle, or rely on our less than stellar local bus service for routine commutes to work from the surrounding area. Setting up on one of the business parks -- which are still within cycling distance of the city centre for keen cyclists based there, but also easy to access by car and usually by bus as well -- seems to have all of the advantages of being in Cambridge, without the unnecessary travel limitations.
iuguy 16y ago
Cambridge is a great place to hire smart people, but it's not the only fruit in the UK as far as starting up is concerned. Oxford, Reading, Bristol, Manchester and Leeds are all good places to start up each with their benefits and drawbacks. Oxford (1 hr), Reading (20 mins) and Cambridge (50 mins) are probably best for proximity to London. Bristol has a couple of good universities and it's own ecosystem. Manchester and Leeds are cheaper and can be good if you work with financial institutions. Having said that Cambridge has a long history of innovation and tech startups. EDIT: Forgot to mention Cheltenham. Chelly's an interesting place, if you're looking at dealing with certain areas of UK government it's a good place to start up, but getting to/from London/anywhere else can be difficult.
makeplaylearn 16y ago
You forgot to mention the great hand-made fudge. The only real down-side is the focus on hard science patentable IP - which makes it a bit more difficult to get noticed if you're not in that space.
adw 16y ago
Cambridge is a great place for hardware and biotech. It's alright for enterprise software. It's downright poor for web. (We moved Timetric from Cambridge to London towards the end of last year.)
pclark 16y ago
Cambridge is terrible for web - great for hardware/biotech stuff though. Similarly with VCs, they're all big funds that invest in hardware - no seed fund activity here. Rent costs in Cambridge are (IMHO) the same as London. I don't think there are that many tech people in Cambridge, tons of students, but don't expect google analytics discussions down the pub in Cambridge. If I were doing web or software I'd recommend London over Cambridge. Also gets on soapbox Cambridge is far more interested in where it has been as opposed to where it is going.
- Chris_Newton 16y ago
  > Cambridge is terrible for web A couple of people have said that now. What problem(s) do you see with running a web or other software start-up in Cambridge? A lot of people seem to be doing so. > I don't think there are that many tech people in Cambridge, tons of students, but don't expect google analytics discussions down the pub in Cambridge. Are we both talking about Cambridge, UK? IME, it's filled with tech people...
  - pclark 16y ago
    >> Cambridge is terrible for web > A couple of people have said that now. What problem(s) do you see with running a web or other software start-up in Cambridge? A lot of people seem to be doing so. There really isn't an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cambridge for software. There is plenty of stuff for freelance or whatever. I know of two startups that have relocated from Cambridge to London because they couldn't get the technical talent in Cambridge (Rails in these examples) >> I don't think there are that many tech people in Cambridge, tons of students, but don't expect google analytics discussions down the pub in Cambridge. > Are we both talking about Cambridge, UK? IME, it's filled with tech people... I mean tech hackers, rather than academic people

by adamt 16y ago

Chris_Newton 16y ago

Agreed on almost everything (as a Cambridge guy with entrepreneurial tendencies). It's worth knowing that the average house price in Cambridge itself is now higher than the average in London, though, and that the local authorities are almost religiously anti-car, which makes the city centre area much less attractive (in a business sense). If I were planning a start-up with funding for significant numbers of staff, I would probably aim to be based on one of the business parks on the outskirts, or in one of the smaller towns/villages close by. That way, you're still within easy reach of the people, industry and support services, but day-to-day running costs and accessibility for local employees who don't want to walk/cycle in every day and for professional visitors driving to your premises are better.

blasdel 16y ago
Wow, you'd love Houston Texas! It seems a bit daft to be choosing a location based on the convenience of the hypothetical middle managers and mailroom employees you'll have in a successful future. Sure it's professional, but it isn't startup. Burn your business plan, remember?
- Chris_Newton 16y ago
  > It seems a bit daft to be choosing a location based on the convenience of the hypothetical middle managers and mailroom employees you'll have in a successful future. It's not just the middle managers and mailroom staff, though. Most people in Cambridge don't live near the city centre, because it's an old city and much of the space is taken by either the university or business premises. There are, however, many residential areas on the outskirts, and a whole string of surrounding villages. Plenty of tech companies have set up in the middle of Cambridge, but with the transport policies of the local authorities, car access and parking is absurdly difficult. That makes it awkward to host visitors if you need to, and it is a genuine recruitment issue in that not everyone is willing to walk, cycle, or rely on our less than stellar local bus service for routine commutes to work from the surrounding area. Setting up on one of the business parks -- which are still within cycling distance of the city centre for keen cyclists based there, but also easy to access by car and usually by bus as well -- seems to have all of the advantages of being in Cambridge, without the unnecessary travel limitations.

iuguy 16y ago

Cambridge is a great place to hire smart people, but it's not the only fruit in the UK as far as starting up is concerned. Oxford, Reading, Bristol, Manchester and Leeds are all good places to start up each with their benefits and drawbacks. Oxford (1 hr), Reading (20 mins) and Cambridge (50 mins) are probably best for proximity to London. Bristol has a couple of good universities and it's own ecosystem. Manchester and Leeds are cheaper and can be good if you work with financial institutions. Having said that Cambridge has a long history of innovation and tech startups. EDIT: Forgot to mention Cheltenham. Chelly's an interesting place, if you're looking at dealing with certain areas of UK government it's a good place to start up, but getting to/from London/anywhere else can be difficult.

makeplaylearn 16y ago

You forgot to mention the great hand-made fudge. The only real down-side is the focus on hard science patentable IP - which makes it a bit more difficult to get noticed if you're not in that space.

adw 16y ago

Cambridge is a great place for hardware and biotech. It's alright for enterprise software. It's downright poor for web. (We moved Timetric from Cambridge to London towards the end of last year.)

pclark 16y ago

Cambridge is terrible for web - great for hardware/biotech stuff though. Similarly with VCs, they're all big funds that invest in hardware - no seed fund activity here. Rent costs in Cambridge are (IMHO) the same as London. I don't think there are that many tech people in Cambridge, tons of students, but don't expect google analytics discussions down the pub in Cambridge. If I were doing web or software I'd recommend London over Cambridge. Also gets on soapbox Cambridge is far more interested in where it has been as opposed to where it is going.

Chris_Newton 16y ago
> Cambridge is terrible for web A couple of people have said that now. What problem(s) do you see with running a web or other software start-up in Cambridge? A lot of people seem to be doing so. > I don't think there are that many tech people in Cambridge, tons of students, but don't expect google analytics discussions down the pub in Cambridge. Are we both talking about Cambridge, UK? IME, it's filled with tech people...
- pclark 16y ago
  >> Cambridge is terrible for web > A couple of people have said that now. What problem(s) do you see with running a web or other software start-up in Cambridge? A lot of people seem to be doing so. There really isn't an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cambridge for software. There is plenty of stuff for freelance or whatever. I know of two startups that have relocated from Cambridge to London because they couldn't get the technical talent in Cambridge (Rails in these examples) >> I don't think there are that many tech people in Cambridge, tons of students, but don't expect google analytics discussions down the pub in Cambridge. > Are we both talking about Cambridge, UK? IME, it's filled with tech people... I mean tech hackers, rather than academic people