Pete Smith on Silicon Milkroundabout: Startups team up to take on the banks | Hacker News Reader

Pete Smith on Silicon Milkroundabout: Startups team up to take on the banks

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33 pointspostdesk13 comments

Having grown up in the UK, owning my own company was never something that even occurred to me- I wasn't until I moved to NYC that I saw just how great it can be. I'm sure that there are some cultural reasons for that, but I think one of the most important factors is simply being surrounded by people doing their own startup thing and picking up on their enthusiasm.

Given that my visa restrictions here in the US forbid me from easily working for my own company, I'm always thinking of returning to London. So, this sort of event is great to see- the creation of Tech City and an obvious growth in startup culture means that London could be a great place to do business.

Kudos to Pete, Ian, Michelle and the rest of the team. It is incredible to see how much change has happened in the last four years in London and impressive to see how deep YC is into it.

I wondered round and saw James from WebMynd, Hiroki from GroupPay, Devin onto his new company Lyst and other YC's as part of the attendees.

I can't emphasise enough what a different place London it is now to where it was four years ago and while part of that is the passage of time, a chunk of it is definitely the efforts of the SK team. Well done guys.

cheers peter

the event brought so many great London tech start-ups together..

I looked at a number of cites to base my new company and chose London for it's mix of diversity, access to talent and strong business culture.

For a tech heavy startup SF was the only other serious competitor.

I must disclaim I am English.

I was there on Sunday and I have never been to anything like it before. It was so well organised, fantastic companies working on some brilliant projects. Big thanks to SK guys.

great to hear it!

do you think you'll find a new job as a result?

If I was actively seeking a new job, I can say with 99% certainty that I would have left with one. However I'm in a place where the startup movement has inspired me to try something on my own. If things don't work out I've got some great companies to contact.

Ranking startup jobs by runway is a great idea.

i agree that that kind of transparency would be amazing for candidates. tough to get all startups to sign up to a public declaration of their runways, however!

but it's usually possible to get a straight answer if you ask as part of the interview process

at songkick we've always been honest about runway, certainly with later-stage interviewees

if a startup who is making you a job offer refuses to answer the runway question, that says something about their general attitude to transparency across the whole team

Trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes; employers, customers, investors etc is only ever a stupid idea longterm.

i had great fun doing this interview -- we were all on a real high at the end of the event, and sam asked some great questions

the event goes from strength to strength!

Go easy on the ellipses and em dashes.

I think it's been typed in Word!

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