I’m normally based in London, but I would love to meet up with fellow entrepreneurs when i’m up in Brum.

Everyone’s been very supportive in getting Open Coffee going in Bristol; but I made sure I’d done my homework first. Getting a balanced core interest group together to support the network and having a clear purpose has kept people coming back.

The added value has meant that people are introducing people to OpenCoffee in Bristol so it’s no longer just my contact list.

Bristol’s a great city (I would say that) but there are active communities pretty much everywhere (Plymouth, Brighton, Manchester, Birmingham, etc). A bit of time on Google will find them and then you just need to get involved and figure out your comfort level of participation.

3) When you have sufficient local contacts try to organise your own social events (John Bradford has support of Bristol Park st. Starbucks for his open coffee events) Publicise this in your local paper…. but also in the climbing/surf/sailing shops – whatever makes geeks hang out in your area.

Good stuff.

I second checking out support from your regional development agencies.
Don’t miss out contacting local universities as they often have training and support programmes for start ups.

Absolutely agree – I did this a few years ago when First Tuesday was dissolving into drunken disorder here. I started a lunch group as I find that a more positive vibe and a break from being at the keyboard.

You really need people to ask those difficult questions; working on your own it’s too easy to believe your own line.

Roman,

Good point – gathering requirements on what your audience wants.

rmm

as you may know, I am no longer with Library House, so, no idea whether they are planning to do a 2008/20089 UK venture-Backed report.

They definitely have the data…

I suggest anyone who wants to make an updated map like the one above contact Sam Snelson at Library House. I am sure he would be very happy to help out with some postcode data points.

Find at least 1 or 2 other entrepreneurs nearby whom you respect and can learn from. Then meet these same people face-to-face on a regular basis (at least once per month). Even though being in London will mean you’ll meet other entrepreneurs with greater frequency, it’s the quality relationships where people feel safe enough to talk about the uncomfortable stuff.

One key characteristic of great entrepreneurial buddies (and great advisors/investors) is that they ask you the questions you find most difficult to answer.

Interesting map – I wonder if someone at Library House could update it? Knowing Scotland I can almost guess what most of those companies are doing in each cluster, eg Aberdeen will be oil exploration, mobile clusters in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

What I find fascinating are the ones out in the western and northern Highlands – brave souls indeed to operate so far from the invested mainstream.

rmm

(Cross posted on Jens’ blog)

for a map of isolated start-ups in the UK, have a look here:

http://jenslapinski.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/where-are-the-isolated-start-ups/

This shows you are they literally everywhere…

Conversely, how do those based in London manage? You need to be making a tidy amount just to keep a roof over your head.

We’re running mostly from South Bohemia, though the business is based in Britain.

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