Bristol and Startups

This is just an archived version of a thread on twitter a few people had about startups in the UK and Bristol in particular. This mostly is so I have an easy to link to version for a braindump of some more links and thought on the subject.

johnbradford: Giant Were-Rabbit to convince commuters to set up business in the South West http://tinyurl.com/4cfkj2 *sigh* marketing gone mad?

t1mmyb: @johnbradford there’s a bigger issue of London-centricity throughout politics and business that a marketing gimmick won’t solve

Z303: @t1mmyb @johnbradford Reminded me of a post by Tom Coates that in part asked why Bristol did not have more startups http://moourl.com/iv1r9

t1mmyb: @Z303 😕 at comment by kawt “Bristol thinks too much of itself and is too arrogant to survive in a business that changes hour by hour.”

paparatti: @Z303 – hasn’t the UK only really just started producing great start ups now? And those were in London.

johnbradford: @t1mmyb not sure I’d agree with kawt on that – if anything Bristol needs be a bit more self-promoting and joined up

Z303: @t1mmyb Just read it, Bristol being right wing! most people I meet are left wing or centrist, maybe if I moved in different circles

Z303 @paparatti I guess the big one is last.fm, Someone had a good post about how the BBC should be helping like it did with the BBC Micro

mikedunn: @paparatti Hence I’m always surprised Twitter hasn’t taken off more in the UK- we’ve been obesessed with our mobiles for years here.

paparatti: @Z303 – re: right wing, I think it’s a 50/50 split between racist bigots and hippies in this city.

johnbradford: have to agree with @z303 perhaps if we were *more* right wing and bolshi we’d have more Valley style start-ups 🙂

johnbradford: or at least commercially minded rather than hippy lifestyle – commercial hippies?

Z303: @paparatti That would explain why we get strange mixes

Z303: @johnbradford Should have used quotes, I was saying that find kawt’s comment does not ring true of the people I know here

Z303: @johnbradford And being bolshi is nothing to do with being left or right wing, more to believing in something

johnbradford: @z303 do you find Brizzol folks collaborative or commercially driven enough (ignoring political leanings) to start-up business rather than lifestyles?

johnbradford: @Z303 I know some very cool and creative Bristol companies but they’re aren’t putting themselves on the growth curve you see in the US

Z303: @johnbradford commercial but things like fairtrade/green issues being a larger driver

johnbradford: @Z303 FrankWater being a great example I guess

Z303: @johnbradford Another thought UK has always been better a small bespoke places, more 37 signals than yahoo!

samharding: @johnbradford that’s bonkers

johnbradford: @Z303 true, but can you build a bespoke service that scales? Ning? Mobile apps?

johnbradford: It’ll be interesting to see if the Pervasive Studio delivers anything scalable/sustainable

Z303: @johnbradford perhaps niche would have been a better word, I was also thinking about race car vs. road cars, lots of F1 work is UK based

• Category: Startups