WebMission: Brits go to Silicon Valley

Edie G. Lush

Edie G. Lush joins a party of young British Internet talent on a pilgrimage to meet Californian role models

Andrew Scott of Rummble says three words describe the Valley’s spirit: openness, optimism, and funding. ‘By “openness” I mean the willingness to share ideas, be available, engage with one’s peers – the sense of entrepreneurial community that pervades the Valley. So often the first or second line in the Valley is “What can I do to help you?” But having said that, with entrepreneur-driven web conferences gaining traction in Europe, there’s a culture shift in the same direction; it is an exciting time to be a start-up in Europe.’ Not enough to stop Scott from moving Rummble to San Francisco later this year, however!

While the feedback was mostly positive, the California-based VCs often expressed more interest in UK start-ups that were prepared to move to the US or at least have significant presence there. Josh Goldman, an entrepreneur-turned-investor at Norwest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, says this is mainly a result of living through the forest fire that was the tech crash of 2000.

‘It’s true that the earlier the stage of the company, the more we feel the desire to have our investments geographically closer to one of our offices,’ he says. ‘It’s not a hard-and-fast rule. We’ve done early-stage deals all over the world, but the bar is higher as they get further away from our base. It actually isn’t so much for day-to-day oversight of the company. Frankly, if you find yourself doing that, the company probably isn’t a great investment. The real reason is that early-stage companies need more executive recruiting, introductions and deal-making assistance within the industry and our network of contacts is centred in this area. Basically, the closer they are, the more we can help ensure their success by leveraging our network and looking for synergies with our other investments and partners.’

There’s definitely a frustration among the WebMission companies about this stance. Sokratis Papafloratos from TrustedPlaces says: ‘We’re already part of a global scene and it’s easier than ever to collaborate across borders. I’m originally from Greece; my co-founder is from France; our engineering team is in Tel Aviv and we’ve worked with people based in the US, Ukraine and Spain.’