WebMission: Brits go to Silicon Valley

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

Twenty British Internet start-up chief executives walk into Google’s headquarters… No, this isn’t the start of a joke, but a day in WebMission – a trip which aims to bring the best of British web talent to the US.

What’s the big idea? WebMission co-founder Oli Barrett says: ‘The basic plan was to help 20 leading web entrepreneurs attract opportunities, and to give them a platform from which they could showcase their companies. We made companies apply to take part, which raised the calibre significantly and helped to generate a buzz.’

More than 100 applied for places. After a rigorous selection process, led by UK Trade and Investment with Doug Richards of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den and Mike Butcher of the weblog TechCrunch, the lucky 20 boarded a plane for California. The companies disembarking at San Francisco in some respects could not be more different – they range from a service which delivers personalised restaurant recommendations to your phone, to a site which allows bands to raise money from their fans. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re riding the wave of collaborative working and information-sharing known as Web 2.0.

And why are they headed for Silicon Valley? Well, one obvious reason is that many of the technology giants – Amazon, Facebook, Linkedin, Sun, SalesForce, Google, Bebo and Oracle – are based in and around San Francisco. For techies, a visit to the Bay Area is akin to a pilgrimage to Mecca. But beyond the big names there is a whole eco-system that is primed to help start-ups. Charles Armstrong, head of Trampoline Systems, says: ‘The density of ventures in the Bay Area is so much greater than the UK — or anywhere else for that matter. This isn’t just true for the Internet scene, but for the technology scene in general. That has led to all kinds of secondary differences like the quality of funding infrastructure, the cohesion of the start-up community and the supply of talent.’ TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher adds: ‘In general, UK entrepreneurs who have moved to the Valley say it is easier to do a start-up here, that people “get” your idea faster. No-one says Europe is not a place for start-ups, but there is less friction here and less aversion to risk and failure.’

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