A New York journalist visits the roundabout and shows off her lack of understanding of British culture.
Much like NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg declared last month, Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint has said, “What I think we can reasonably expect is that London will be the leading hub for Europe,” he said. But then rowed back, “Not the only one…a leading hub.” The British culture does seem less prone to self-celebration, which is proper and all, but not exactly the best way to get noticed in a crowded world of tech startups.
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I met with an editor at Google UK this week who explained that socially, there’s a lack of collaboration in London because there’s an absence of the desire to do so. It’s ingrained in the culture to be wary of others and to be guarded. […] Perhaps it’s because every time you walk around a corner, you have to duck into a shop and buy an umbrella. Or perhaps it’s because instead of talking about open APIs, raising funding and collaborating, people can’t stop talking about the rubbish weather.
Founders of RIG put together a drive-time radio show last winter called Radio Roundabout. In it they interviewed Matt Biddulph, who coined Silicon Roundabout.
A for-profit <-> not-for-profit collaboration building upon existing networks of business angels, investors and mentors, London universities and business schools, R&D bodies, professional service providers, and so forth, with the aim of supporting technology and high-growth businesses in London’s centre.
We are entrepreneurs and operators who want to apply our experiences towards helping founders and early-stage teams build great digital media/technology companies.
