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

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.