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You need to increase demand: * Offer tax breaks for tech startups. The UK has a whole suite of these and London is number one in EU (out of now) for tech start

You need to increase demand: * Offer tax breaks for tech startups. The UK has a whole suite of these and London is number one in EU (out of now) for tech startups * Similarly non-tax pro-entrepreneur reforms and help: bankruptcy protections (the US does this very well, the UK very badly); access to mortgages / leases and credit for the self employed; better management of taxes and benefits; reform of regulation for smaller businesses; and media campaigns to make starting (and failing at) a new company more acceptable socially. The UK does great at some of these (starting a business is easy), badly at others (bankruptcy is a nightmare here). * Legal reforms around freedom: so you can break non-competes (the UK does ok at this and the EU too I think); so it's harder to enforce IP that isn't being actively used; to prevent large established companies from bullying smaller ones (less of a problem already because the rest of the world doesn't follow the "American Rule" for court cost...) * there are a bunch of smaller initiatives that can assist too: government buy-local and buy-small policies; entrepreneur training and projects in schools and universities, requiring graduate programs to accept delayed/older entries (so you can take a year off between uni and SafeCorp without worrying you'll never get back on the ladder), encouraging contracting over employment. All of that should drive entrepreneurship. That will hopefully build an eco system (suppliers, capital providers etc.) and it can grow organically from there. I'm not sure it will ever be Silicon Valley in London or Amsterdam or Berlin. Partly there are established industries that soak up talent tech workers (finance in the UK) but also because software is a "winner take all" market most of the time. Even hardware can be that way too. And that's just not the European culture.

xxpor 6y ago
Reading about how the bankruptcy system works in the UK a few years ago (when Thomas Cook collapsed) was mind blowing. How could any system where the firm has to cease operations immediately no matter the circumstance be considered a good idea?
- iso1631 6y ago
  If you run out of money then you're screwed. What do you do if you are a person who runs out of money and can't pay debt? Surely you have your assets repossessed and some form of debt charge hanging over you for some time so you can't get into that position again (or rather that others will know not to lend you money again) Is it different in the US?
  - ojbyrne 6y ago
    For corporations, it is generally different. "In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the debtor corporation is typically recapitalized so that it emerges from bankruptcy with more equity and less debt, a process through which some of the debtor corporation's debts may be discharged." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_S...
    - iso1631 6y ago
      So in a chapter 11 bankrupcy a corporation is let off its obligations, creditors suffer, but the corporation emerges wealthier than ever? Why can't an average person do that?
      - xxpor 6y ago
        They can. This is the distinction between unsecured and secured debt (outside of your primary residence, which has special protections). For most unsecured debt, an individual can get it wiped out in bankruptcy court. The main exception to this is student debt. Good luck ever getting any type of loan for the next decade or so though. This is what's called Chapter 7 in the US. There's a means test here ostensibly to prevent abuse. There's also Chapter 13, which is more of an adjustment plan. You keep your assets, but you agree to pay some portion of your debts over 3 to 5 years. If you don't make your payments, the judge can dismiss the plan and creditors can pursue you under state law for the debt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy#Chapter_7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy#Chapter_7
- HatchedLake721 6y ago
  What’s not normal about it? As soon as you’re insolvent and not able to meet your due payments, why would you be allowed to keep raking up debt?
  - LatteLazy 6y ago
    US Chapter 11 Bankruptcy gives a firm that has a chance of surviving some respite from its creditors to reorganise and try and emerge as a going concern. This makes creditors more likely to be reasonable (as no one is getting paid) rather than all race to be the most demanding (because if anyone is getting paid you want it to be you!). There is also Chapter 7 which governs liquidation. Even that allows room for the company to seek a buyer or similar opportunity rather than just give up and die. British law has moved a bit more on this direction in the last 10 years. This is important because in modern companies are usually valued much higher than the sum of their parts. Actual assets you can repossess are much less important than the brand name, staff that know the job and each other, on going relationships with customer etc. Grabbing the assets gets you 10% of the value and burns the other 90%... Edit: Even British bankruptcy protects a workers tools. Because a few second hand hammers is worth a lot less than the bankrupt blacksmith could earn if he kept them (and hopefully pay you back). This is the same concept.
- LatteLazy 6y ago
  It's based in Old law where your assets were physical stock and tools not brand name and ongoing business. It's also based on the British system where the upper class run everything, and they were more likely to be creditors than debtors. It's not even just the pure bankruptcy itself. If you've ever been bankrupt you can't be a company director. You can't access all sorts of financial products (car insurance!?) until long after the bankruptcy is discharged. It's a mess.

xxpor 6y ago

Reading about how the bankruptcy system works in the UK a few years ago (when Thomas Cook collapsed) was mind blowing. How could any system where the firm has to cease operations immediately no matter the circumstance be considered a good idea?

iso1631 6y ago
If you run out of money then you're screwed. What do you do if you are a person who runs out of money and can't pay debt? Surely you have your assets repossessed and some form of debt charge hanging over you for some time so you can't get into that position again (or rather that others will know not to lend you money again) Is it different in the US?
- ojbyrne 6y ago
  For corporations, it is generally different. "In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the debtor corporation is typically recapitalized so that it emerges from bankruptcy with more equity and less debt, a process through which some of the debtor corporation's debts may be discharged." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_S...
  - iso1631 6y ago
    So in a chapter 11 bankrupcy a corporation is let off its obligations, creditors suffer, but the corporation emerges wealthier than ever? Why can't an average person do that?
    - xxpor 6y ago
      They can. This is the distinction between unsecured and secured debt (outside of your primary residence, which has special protections). For most unsecured debt, an individual can get it wiped out in bankruptcy court. The main exception to this is student debt. Good luck ever getting any type of loan for the next decade or so though. This is what's called Chapter 7 in the US. There's a means test here ostensibly to prevent abuse. There's also Chapter 13, which is more of an adjustment plan. You keep your assets, but you agree to pay some portion of your debts over 3 to 5 years. If you don't make your payments, the judge can dismiss the plan and creditors can pursue you under state law for the debt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy#Chapter_7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy#Chapter_7
HatchedLake721 6y ago
What’s not normal about it? As soon as you’re insolvent and not able to meet your due payments, why would you be allowed to keep raking up debt?
- LatteLazy 6y ago
  US Chapter 11 Bankruptcy gives a firm that has a chance of surviving some respite from its creditors to reorganise and try and emerge as a going concern. This makes creditors more likely to be reasonable (as no one is getting paid) rather than all race to be the most demanding (because if anyone is getting paid you want it to be you!). There is also Chapter 7 which governs liquidation. Even that allows room for the company to seek a buyer or similar opportunity rather than just give up and die. British law has moved a bit more on this direction in the last 10 years. This is important because in modern companies are usually valued much higher than the sum of their parts. Actual assets you can repossess are much less important than the brand name, staff that know the job and each other, on going relationships with customer etc. Grabbing the assets gets you 10% of the value and burns the other 90%... Edit: Even British bankruptcy protects a workers tools. Because a few second hand hammers is worth a lot less than the bankrupt blacksmith could earn if he kept them (and hopefully pay you back). This is the same concept.
LatteLazy 6y ago
It's based in Old law where your assets were physical stock and tools not brand name and ongoing business. It's also based on the British system where the upper class run everything, and they were more likely to be creditors than debtors. It's not even just the pure bankruptcy itself. If you've ever been bankrupt you can't be a company director. You can't access all sorts of financial products (car insurance!?) until long after the bankruptcy is discharged. It's a mess.