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Is this really surprising? London picks up all the advantages of the UK (legal system is sound, eg in contract law, native speakers of English, the lingua franc
by kjellsbells 9mo ago
Is this really surprising? London picks up all the advantages of the UK (legal system is sound, eg in contract law, native speakers of English, the lingua franca of business, strong university tradition) and adds in its special sauce: access to the City, global-tier culture, excellent public transport (I know we moan about it, but it really is excellent), and a timezone location that easily serves the US and Asia markets.
The awkwardness for founders in London is that when they want to IPO, London doesnt have nearly as deep a pool of capital as the US, so they are potentially leaving a lot of money on the table.
- hadlock 9mo agoStartups might thrive there, but business investment in England (particularly in mature businesses) has not exactly been lively ever since Brexit. I can't recall the last time I heard someone talking favorably about investing in England, or at all, really.
- funkyfiddler369 9mo agoright, people will just tell you the best places and things to invest in ... during a game of chess: "hey why'd you make that move?"
- coldcity_again 9mo ago"hey why'd you make that bid?" is a valid question that must be answered during a game of bridge..
- funkyfiddler369 9mo agoI don't know bridge and I did not google. Would you be so kind to be verbose? Your comment made me curious ... but I was busy
- pyuser583 9mo agoOr since the anti-corruption reforms of 2015-2018. Which frustratingly overlap with Brexit, making it hard to tell whether this is “good driving business away” or “bad driving business away.”
- pjc50 9mo agoFirst I've heard of this - which anti-corruption reforms?
- pyuser583 9mo agoUK Anti‑Corruption Plan 2014-2015 Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 - outlawed bearer shares UK PSC Registry 2016 Action Plan for Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorist Finance 2017-2022 Money Laundering Regulations 2017 Sanctions and Anti‑Money Laundering Act 2018
- graemep 9mo agoIs deep enough pool of capital for the vast majority of businesses. Its cultural diversity is a plus for most people (other than people like DHH). The big problem with London is that it is very, very expensive.
- dukeyukey 9mo agoHousing is super expensive, but even that is coming down. Transport is a bit expensive, bit it's fine. Everything else is pretty reasonable!
- johnisgood 9mo agoIs it really coming down? Only in London, UK, Europe, or more or less globally? Where are you getting this from? I am not sure everything else is reasonable if groceries alone have been going up by as much as 100% throughout the world, heh. Maybe on an SWE salary it is reasonable, sure.
- gpderetta 9mo agoI was going to reply to grandparent that only flat prices are coming down because of rising service charge costs, and being hard to mortgage because of cladding issues. But after some research it is indeed true that house prices are, to a lesser extent, also going down, at least in real terms, if not nominal.
- rowanajmarshall 9mo agoI actually wrote a webapp to show this, check it out - https://housepricedashboard.co.uk/ https://housepricedashboard.co.uk/ London house prices are falling quite a lot in real terms.
- johnisgood 9mo agoI am getting DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN.
- ifwinterco 9mo agoIt's a classic example of how natural advantages and network effects can overcome mediocre to poor policymaking. The UK has been run by blithering idiots for decades at this point, but London has survived so far
- mytailorisrich 9mo agoMaybe the UK has been run by blithering idiots but the business environment and regulations are still among the most attractive in Europe... not sure what that says about the other European countries.
- ifwinterco 9mo agoIndeed, I can't speak for how other European countries work but if the Labour/Conservative/Whitehall nomenklatura is producing better results than your political system, something is very very wrong
- direwolf20 9mo agoIn Germany you need 25k$ and 6-12 months to establish the equivalent of an LLC. This is because Germany hates limited liability. It would prefer you to operate as a sole trader with unlimited liability, and then not do things that generate liability. Needless to say, this is scary for programmers.
- sumek83 9mo agohopefully soon down to 48h with EU-INC
- direwolf20 9mo agoJust like the EU forced Germany to to stop prosecuting coffee shops for having public wifi.
- tchalla 9mo agoUS founders have essentially outsourced risk to London. > What London actually built is Europe’s most efficient farm system for US acquirers. The city does the expensive, risky work of finding founders, funding early rounds, and proving product-market fit. American companies wait until the risk is de-risked, then buy the winners at discounts enabled by London’s shrinking public markets. https://xcancel.com/aakashgupta/status/2016375397131420005 https://xcancel.com/aakashgupta/status/2016375397131420005
- petesergeant 9mo agoPlus SEIS is the most insanely generous investment tax relief
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- johnisgood 9mo agoIs it reasonable to say that in many (not all) parts of London, English no longer functions reliably as the default public language, even if most individuals technically "speak English"?
- rorytbyrne 9mo agoNot sure what point you’re trying to make here in relation to startups.
- johnisgood 9mo agoI am not making any points. I have just heard this take a lot of times and I have not been around London for over 10 years. If there is a point, it is not mine. As for its relevance: "native speakers on English", etc.
- direwolf20 9mo agoIt's not true. Where have you heard it?
- johnisgood 9mo agoThere has been quite a lot of popular YouTubers spreading this. One of them is Kurt Caz. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46809291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46809291) You should watch the video someone linked that exposes one of his many shady stuff.
- jddj 9mo agoNo
- anonzzzies 9mo agonope
- youngtaff 9mo agoNope
- interludead 9mo agoLondon ends up being this amazing on-ramp into global tech, but not quite the place where the biggest companies finish their journey