As far as I am aware the wallet was in your laptop bag, and someone took it from there. So, where were you while someone was rifling through your bag? Why didn’t they take the whole bag (including laptop) which would have been quicker and probably less suspicious?

I’m not saying you didn’t have your wallet taken, but before you mention this as an obvious side swipe at the area, I’d like you to back it up with some more facts. I’ve drank in the pub where it allegedly happened for years and never had anything stolen, but then I’m usually fairly aware of the proximity of my valuables, wherever I am…

For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed this article and I’m delighted you came to the region to actually research the facts on this occasion.

Thanks
Julian

On another note Codeworks was handed it on a plate by One North East from day 1 to date and to be fair you have not done that much neither for the North East apart from waste tax payers money, use it for jollys and to take on so called IT professionals “laughs”… If you can convince me that any of the above investors and their ‘starts ups’ have had success with the copious amounts of ‘public’ money they have received then I will hold my hands up. More should be done to ensure more success stories for the North East to justify the spending before Mr Cameron decides to abolish the RDA scheme altogether.
GRD Grants in the North East are a waste of time, If you face does not fit with the fat cat investors or one of the few companies in the know about the region’s ‘pots of money’ that is being wasted then you might as well try your luck in London or the south east….

After watching the video above regarding the meeting with Milo in Newcastle last week, I thought we have spotty IT so called ‘pros’ that all they do is suck up to One North East.

and well done Paul King for being so honest in the video by not talking rubbish and telling it how it is….

Pure a$$ licking CodeWorks for the benefit of One North East.

A suggestion, One North East needs to study where the money is going i.e. meet the companies and mentor them directly – or use mentors who are not rejects from their own industry failures who can be over paid by doing little to support companies before they retire! Maybe then we might get even more success for the region if the money is not distributed to donkeys who are also rejects from banking industries or accountant firms and no other hope in getting a job to sustain there wigs and cigars

Greetings again.

First off thank you for coming back to the issues you raised in your original Telegraph piece.

My reaction to this post is summed by one word: balance.

This piece highlights the positives & achievements but raises some very hard & fair questions.

You suggest that advice & support is significantly worse than what they might get in London or California. Can you actually prove this or is it just your impression? I’m genuinely curious here. I find it hard to believe that ALL the advice being given to NE startups/companies is terrible or at least subpar to what you could get in London or California. And of course alot of London & California-grown advice can be spectacularly wrong too. Dotcom crash, banking crash, etc.

You suggest also that NE VC organisations like NorthStar are lavishly funding bad ideas. Again, is there a way to prove this? As you’ll undoubtedly know mainstream VC’s & Angels are typically only looking for 1 or 2 hits out of 10 which means the vast majority of their investments are lavishly funded bad ideas or incompetent executions of good ideas. For every Google there are hundreds of boo.com’s & thousands of walking dead firms that never amount to much even if they survive for awhile.

I guess what we’d all find valuable is a way to try & measure the performance of at least parts of the public investment being made here in this region and others.

Anyway I applaud this new piece and look forward to your further work on the NE and the other English regions.

Herb

Good to meet you at Close House last week.

I am leaving this comment on behalf of CONNECT North East “which brokers introductions between young technology companies and investors”.

It is administered / run by a private company, and is putting on a ‘Meet the Investor’ event this lunchtime (the first in this series).

We believe we are part of just the sort of solution you suggest, and would be happy to tell you more.

Kind regards

Justin Souter

I must say that I thought that the admission of “OK, so it’s not exactly grim up North for tech”, was a great move forward.

I thought that it was a good article and I await the next in the series, as with many others I’d be keen to understand how you feel, the North East compares in relation to the other RDA regions.

I do think that this article will help show that there is a real opportunity in the North East for tech companies, and those who want to get involved with those companies, either via investing or by creating partnerships.

I know that the Codeworks Connect Board members, and Staff, were pleased to see that you were prepared to visit the North East and see first hand what is actually happening in the region.

I’d be happy to help introduce you to other RDA’s if this helps.

Regards

Andy

As COO of a sci/tech company myself I want to ask all Girl Geeks of the North East to get in touch with Milo; in fact, here’s an invitation: the next official meeting of Girl Geeks NE is 10 September at Newcastle University Business School – consider yourself invited. Let me know if you want to come along.

J

It obviously much more well researched and well written, its fair, balanced and makes some very relevant points…but makes them in a positive way.Nice work.

I can’t wait to read the second and third parts – although getting people to go on the record on issues of mismanaged funding and well meaning organizations being more of a hindrance than a help will be a lot harder to get i fear.

It is great to see that the London and other regional audience are also joining in the conversation, knowing the North East Tech community, i knew that you’d get lots of great comments and replies to your article, but i’ll be interested to see how other regions compare. I hope that you get the chance to visit places like mid wales, the midlands, cumbria or norwich and report back on how those areas compare.

A much fairer and accurate assessment of the North East’s Tech/Digital scene Milo. I hope the remaining two articles are as fair and well researched as this one.

P.S. In regards to your wallet theft, I had my laptop stolen in Shoreditch, Central London two months ago. These things happen everywhere not just in the North East.

I plan to. Where would you guys recommend I go next? Manchester? Liverpool?

http://yiannopoulos.net/2009/07/come-and-have-a-go-if-you-think-youre-hard-enough/

Completely agree with Rob – I know you were looking to stir up debate with your Telegraph piece, but you’d have done a far more effective job with a thoughtful, balanced post like this. I don’t think anybody had an issue with the overall message of the original post, more that it was deliberately offensive and poorly researched.

Two points I would question – the stereotype of a city brimming with wallet-thieving scallies belongs to Liverpool, not Newcastle.

And I don’t recall the hug.

It was great to meet you, and it’s even more great to see your degree of commitment and involvement on this. I’m looking forward to the next two articles, and to seeing their effects.

Congrats on the new job as well.

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One of the things that we didn’t really discuss was that the additions to the support infrastructure is being created at the moment, the following initiatives are relatively new but show immense promise:

Sunderland Software City – supports, trains and connects software businesses

Teeside Digital City – intense incubator system with a view to eventual business development

Newcastle, Northumbria & Durham Entrepreneurs societies – previously these universities have had no such society, but each is working to rectify the situation

Codeworks – is godfather to many digital companies with ties to funding, but more importantly, working support and networking opportunities, although well established, the networking is coming into a class of its own

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Also, I like the idea of Northern embassies in key locations… things to ponder