I do not think you can take a slice of the USA (such as entrepreneur activity) and then compare it to another similar slice of British activity. That would be like comparing the door handles in two houses: one which was infested with mice, had noisy neigbours, and a glue factory next door; and one in the countryside with cows, roses, and low crime. So would a comparison about door handles make any sense?

If you want to see what happens when you ask the wrong question in the USA, then watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnIkhYCS4w

Trevor

I’m a brit moving to the USA to be with my American partner but I must say that having been in the UK start up scene since 2000 I am not going to miss it. Whilst it has definitely picked up in the last 2 years, the UK suffers from basic structural issues that are not going away anytime soon.

Many of these have already been listed above but my picks are:

- appetite for risk and reward at all levels of funding
- level of understanding of the potential of disruptive technologies
- total amount of capital available
- number of people motivated by equity, who don’t just want a 9-5 job and to get shitfaced at the weekend
- developers who demand 6 figure salaries from start ups (lots of exceptions out there but compare yourselves to your global peers)
- size of the market

IMHO is a cultural and scale problem. The US definitely has its own problems in the space but they come later in the cycle and can be dealt with as the resources are already in place.

I hope the UK can produce more tech leaders but I wouldn’t bet on it.

World advancing usually still comes from mostly the USA…. Lets not pretend otherwise.

If you really have the idea of the century, then take it to the USA. If you just want to sell business cards – well anywhere for that.

We are not talking about the USA as a whole, just about being an entrepreneur in the states versus the UK.

@Julian

I agree we should work with what we’ve got…the grass always seems greener

@Jo our country’s attitude as a whole to success -yes we like to champion the underdog -better story?

Anyone thinking that the USA is somehow better, wiser, or stronger simply knows little about the USA or relative comparisons. My guess is that their experience is limited to business trips, and meeting Americans similarly on business trips.

Living somewhere really means reporting to foreign management completely (from first line to the top), paying foreign taxes, having full residence or equivalent documents, and being liable for all local property taxes. That is very different to visiting on a business trip.

If you want some simple facts; America has terrible problems with education, health care, crime, poverty, human rights, drugs, and the economy. The public debt is so high that America depends on foreign investors.

Millions of Americans have no health insurance at all, and millions live in poverty. America has the highest prison population on earth by number, and the second highest by percentage. It one of a few developed nations that executes people. It’s record on Human Rights is so bad, that the USA has lost countless World Court cases and been banned from judging Human Rights at the UN.

So when you start yapping about VC’s and the “British Nation” learn some facts.

Needs the energy of where we are heading, which currently is in California? (IMO)

My bugbear is not with negativity, but stupidity. If you are going to criticise something, think about what you are going to say, and come up with a rational and sensible argument. Being homophobic, rude, or demeaning is not only unnecessary and non-constructive, but encourages more mass-criticism in a mob-like way. This is the issue I have. If you are going to be negative about something – and please do if it merits critique – construct your argument in a way that is helpful, rather than in a way that insults the entrepreneur, because – dear community – without the entrepreneurs you would have no TechCrunch, you would have no VCs, you would have no tech industry. So do yourselves a favour, and help the community, increase the average intelligence of the community, or as Paul Carr says, don’t be an anonymous troll.

I can’t comment from an entrepreneur’s point of view but something I have noticed as a musician in a band is that in the UK I think we actually prefer to champion the underdog. Bands that come from ‘working class’ backgrounds tend to fair better in popularity stakes rather than those that appear to well formed and perfect too soon. Thinking about The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys & Oasis. They can still be cocky about themselves though.

I think it is partly to do with association and aspirations. Many people in the UK will react better if they see a band or public figure (including an entrepreneur) as being in some way like them.

On the other hand I think people will also easily knock those same figures down easily when they step over the line. I think this is because it makes some people feel better in themselves, they see someone who has made a success messing up and think “I may not be famous or rich but at least I’m not like her”.

It may simply be that there are more people in the US with greater aspirations or that they aspire to be something that they think deep down they can’t achieve and so instead they support someone else in achieving it.