London is peculiar compared to Silicon Valley or Silicon Allee(Berlin), in that it is the hub for Finance, Retail and Media,Politics and Advertising and it is a

London is peculiar compared to Silicon Valley or Silicon Allee(Berlin), in that it is the hub for Finance, Retail and Media,Politics and Advertising and it is also the political capital in the UK. Talent is expensive here and scarce. Compare this to Berlin, which doesn't have the banking industry to compete with, makes it a much better startup hub than London and it also has a thriving startup community and plenty of talented hard-working programmers. There isn't enough money to go around here (in London), the VC firms here are terribly myopic and often don't understand the technology (this is probably true of all VC firms). A lot of the talent is tied up in Canary Wharf and the Square Mile. My experience with startup culture in London is not as optimistic as the article paints, seems half-arsed. But that's been my experience. I'd be interested to know if others have had a different experience. I work near London's Silicon Roundabout and like the article said, there is no money. Growth is the biggest hurdle and there is little financial support. Many of the VC firms, I hate to say it, don't understand the technology well enough. There isn't enough talent to go around either, since it is mostly tied up in the banking and retail sector. Most of the money here is going towardsand I find this a bit surprising. The sense of community that I'd expect from a startup hub isn't there and most of the talent are tied up in the banking and retail sector. It all feels a bit underground.