>Cameron reveals Silicon Valley vision for the East London

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I was flabbergastedyesterday by the revelation that Mr. Cameron has a start-up vision for thiscountry, more specifically, this area of East London. I was eager to hear whathe had to say. I even exchanged emails with Rory, from the BBC, in regard to his blog post on the subject. Rory’s view was that we’re all drinking’skinny’ cappuccinos in local cafes however, I soon pointed out he is morelikely to find us drowning out our disappointments following VC meetings.

I guess it’s good toknow that our man at the top, Mr. Cameron, speaks to the founders of Google andclearly listens to them. I am confused as to why they would have had a problemstarting their business in the UK though. Copyright law? Hmm they seemed to beok with YouTube having that problem? Come on guys, IP law in general, notjust in the UK but also in the USA is completely out of date in its applicationto Software, the WEB and technology – invention is re-invention. We instart up world get patents to impress VC’s and protect ourselves, so imaginethat – you have an idea and you next protect yourself from it. I will let youinto a secret, we need VC money to pay the Patent lawyer. Ok, I’m exaggerating.But I exaggerate to make a point.

Mr. Cameron If youwant to throw the cat amongst the pigeons make the UK IP indifferent. Theinnovation will be massive. We would have a Silicon Valley over night, thewhole of the UK, indeed all those development agencies being shut down won’t benecessary anyway so it was a good idea to close them – well done.  TheValley will run from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Anyone with an idea willflock to the UK.

But I deviate; I donot mean to get into a conversation about how silly IP law is.

What I really wantedto say is Mr. Cameron you maybe be saving the UK from sinking under the weightof interest payments, but to help UK start-ups here in the East End or anywhereelse in the UK you could ask us directly. I am sure you would hear “Giveus a break on Employer NI contributions for a couple of years” or”Can you ask corporate UK to rethink draconian payment terms of 90days that hard times seem to warrant. We don’t have a problem if they do itbetween themselves but to start-up tech companies it’s very tough to make endsmeet”. If you ask us directly, I doubt you’ll hear any problems arisingfrom a lack of capability, passion, people, or come to that copyrightinfringement.

What you’ll hear loudand clear, in my opinion, is that to have a Silicon Valley outside of the USAyou might need Silicon Valley VC’s and culture which appears to be less risk-aversed, NOT largecompanies moving in and shooting the rents up. We are a community here that hasspawned from Old Street roundabout. We are an organically evolving interestinglocal development. The reason we are here is a combination of rent, location,good pubs (I personally recommend the Fox), good clubs and no tourists askingyou where Regents Park is when you nip out for your sandwich. Google have a niceoffice just off Victoria Station because they can afford the rent there.

You have a point whenyou say we have a great entrepreneurial spirit but for some reason the supportfabric, probably due in part to culture, is not quite there yet. Do somethingthere if you want to help.

Please tell the GoogleFounders we say Hullo! and ask them can they rethink their location as the renthere is reasonable at the moment….

Cheers

Andy

PS. I would be concerned that saddling UK students with more debt will mean we’ll sadly see choicesbeing made between – do I do my idea and create or do I get rid of this debt hanging over my head and get a job, pen pushing to pay off the debt?Contradiction maybe?