Comments on: Carsonified, which runs Silicon Valley-style UK events, attacks a UK startup trip to… Silicon Valley

By: Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:04:53 +0000

Well, the folks have been out there pretty much a week and the only things I’ve seen are 2 blog party reports, Qik videos from Paul W – from parties – and some Tweets telling me how the Oracle gig was a sales job. Did anything actually happen?

By: Fabio De Bernardi

Fabio De Bernardi — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:37:26 +0000

I have a simpler explanation for all this noise…
Mike, in your recent post ‘What is the future for tech VCs in Europe?’ (http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/04/11/what-is-the-future-for-tech-vcs-in-europe/) didn’t mention Ryan’s events and he outlined that in the first comment (which you haven’t ‘bothered’ to answer):

Ryan Carson
April 11th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Hey Mike,
Not sure why you’re not including FOWA London in your list …
Ryan

To me it’s where all this anger started and nothing more.

By: alanp

alanp — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:23:59 +0000

@Jackie D quite right far better the taxpayers’ money is spent supporting rich prodigal bankers in trouble than struggling tech entrepreneurs

This seems a fairly sensible – or at least harmless – thing to do, I think the main gist of Ryan Carson’s post was more that you don’t have to change the world or go home, you can do very nicely just changing some people’s lives and you don’t need big SV $ to do that.

By: Zuzanna Pasierbinska-Wilson

Zuzanna Pasierbinska-Wilson — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:07:52 +0000

I don’t know Ryan, I am sure he’s a nice bloke and all, but I think he completely missed the point. You cannot build business stewing in your own local juices for long. How else would we ever learn anything new?

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:37:41 +0000

Paul Williams – Polecat and Oli Barret are covered by the sponsorship. TechCrunch UK (me) was given a flight over with the group as press, but I am picking up all other expenses like hotel etc.

By: Alexander Danilov

Alexander Danilov — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:09:26 +0000

As you said: “it’s a democracy after all” – and anyone may criticise or be enthusiastic about such an event as WebMission’08.
Finding a partner or an investor for a project is equally important and uneasy. On the whole it is not that much important where those partners or investors come from, it’s much more important to get in touch with them.
I can understand the position of trying to keep young companies “within the boarders”, but that is just the matter of what they can get there and how they can get it.
We have mainly the same problem here, in Russia, but on the other hand we face another challenge of getting such companies started. What we do is trying to help them to move through their seed-stage with our help to be more competitive at the later stage.

By: Chris Grew

Chris Grew — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:48:37 +0000

As one of the (full paying) sponsors of Web Mission 08, we couldn’t be more pleased with how the event is going.

A lot of people have worked hard to bring Web Mission 08 to fruition (Oli, Jim and Bronwyn, amongst others) and we’re only part of the way through.

Let’s ensure that a lot of positive things come out of this — lots of good stories, deals and partnerships (and maybe even a funding or two).

By: Sam Sethi

Sam Sethi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:13:59 +0000

Please leave Ryan alone. Clearly people have forgotten how much work Ryan has done for the UK community over the last few years (gratis), besides the worldclass events he has organised which saved many people having to travel to the valley.

I am not sure I fully agree with Ryan’s post given that Ollie has been planning this event for over twelve months and the worst outcome can only be better connections/awareness for UK startups.

We all know there is little to no angel money in Europe. So why not get funded in the valley from the many successful entrepreneurs (Bebo, Paypal, Youtube, Redi Hoffman) come angels who are keen to invest in good ideas where every they originate from.

By: Grant

Grant — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:02:20 +0000

@TC Nice one guys… I was thinking carsonified was the only way to get there….. Seems that don’t understand there is enough business to go round.

FTW the Community…

By: Paul Williams

Paul Williams — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:28:05 +0000

So polecat, tc and the daily networker paid for themselves. Thanks for the clarity.

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:05:46 +0000

Ivan – Apologies. I wrote this in a hurry. Post now updated to make more sense.

By: Mat Atkinson

Mat Atkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:57:55 +0000

Mike. Ooops. Sorry.

By: Ivan Pope

Ivan Pope — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:54:52 +0000

I think it’s a great idea and I say go for it guys.
But Mike, what does this mean “There has also been the suggestions that RecommendBox’s Robert Loch and others are not part of this trip. For the record, they are not – nor to they claims to be – and they are attending any official meetings or tours.” Too many double negatives there.

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:20:19 +0000

Just so everything is clear about who and what is funding this WebMission trip I have had a candid conversation with the organisers and got the full info. This post has now been updated, so I suggest you read the update it and take it on board. The skinny: The taxpayer is getting a fucking good deal out of this.

By: jas

jas — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:01:38 +0000

Yeah damn right Jackie but i expect it’s the taxpayer picking up the bill so everybody can have a jolly up,i’m off to florida in july any chance of picking up the bill

By: Berislav Lopac

Berislav Lopac — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:36:50 +0000

Hey, Zagreb is closer to UK than Kiev!

By: Jackie Danicki

Jackie Danicki — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:35:40 +0000

The only thing I found a bit weird is that the start-ups are staying in such an expensive hotel (in the same group as London’s Sanderson). One of the most successful start-ups in Europe that I know does trips out here every so often, staying in an apartment shared by three of them that costs a few hundred dollars for the week. That’s the kind of practice you don’t have to go to the US to learn about (though I agree with Mike completely that there is much learning and other benefits from the trip to be gained by the companies on it).

Encouraging “bubble behavior” seems a little inappropriate, especially with the DTI providing backing. Who is picking up the hotel tab, taxpayers or the corporate sponsors? (As someone who pays tax in both the US and the UK, I’d be a little perturbed if it’s the former. I don’t begrudge anyone their right to stay in a flash hotel if they wish…as long as they’re not taking the money out of my pocket to pay for it. )

By: Bronwyn Kunhardt

Bronwyn Kunhardt — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:15:55 +0000

Just saying the same thing here as I did on Ryan’s blog, and I think it’s great that this is being discussed. My perspective is that if Web Mission acts as a catalyst for people to discuss what it takes for web start-ups to get better support in the UK, then that’s ok with me. The Valley will always be a source of direction/inspiration/support for UK web companies. That will never go away and building good contacts and relationships over here is a normal part of any web business. The responses to Ryan’s post are very balanced on that front. It’s not an “either US/or UK” situation it’s an “and” situation.

By: Cary Marsh

Cary Marsh — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:03:04 +0000

Great to see high profile bloggers having strong feelings about the mission – if nobody cared it would have been very disappointing.

Let them throw hissy fits and let’s get some real PR for our chaps!

I predict a riot.

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:01:30 +0000

Mat – I publicised Web Mission on this blog several times over several weeks and also on the US site – just go and do a search. The trip also appeared on Venture Beat and a number of other blogs out there. We tried.

By: Mat Atkinson

Mat Atkinson — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:54:23 +0000

Mike

Agree 100% with you and have just commented on Ryan’s original post.

So a few entrepreneurs from the UK want to network in Silicon Valley. What’s the big deal?

Ryan travels and networks in the US all the time. Why does he have a problem with other UK entrepreneurs doing the same and building contacts in the US?

Many of the speakers at his London events are from the US, so it seems like a double standard that he is happy to use US resources to put bums on seats at his conferences, but not happy about UK entrepreneurs going to meet many of those same people on their own turf.

My only problem with WebMission is that it wasn’t well enough publicised in advance. Would love to have been there. Next time.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:41:24 +0000

Well, I agree with you Mike.

I think the webmission is a great idea and knowing some of those that are there (and how chuffed they are to be) plus, knowing some that missed out (and how gutted they are)….I’d say quite a few companies back it.

Now if they’ll please come back with lots more funding I’d appreciate it