This video was originally recorded in 2008 and I watched it way back when it was first done but I think it is a very good presentation that pushes through the shit and gets down to the basics – which is to start a business that provides a product that is useful and you can actually charge for – yeah charge for! In the web world that may seem crazy but it’s what myself and Carl have been banging on about forever now it would seem. People will and should pay for something that is useful for them.

Anyway, find the time to watch this presentation from the Startup School 08 by David Heinemeier Hanson. For those that don’t know him he created the Rails framework and has some very successful products (basecamp) over at 37Signals. It is also quite a funny presentation.

Just read on the grapevine that a new fund is being setup specifically targetting tech companies in Europe (although the founders tend to be predominantly British)

“Leading the fund will be Michael Birch, the founder of Bebo and BirthdayAlarm; Brent Hoberman, the founder of Lastminute and Mydeco; Peter Dubens, the founder of Oakley Capital and Freedom4 Group; and Jonathan Goodwin, the founder of LongAcre Partners.” – techcrunch uk

It would seem that Bebo founder My. Birch is the predominate funder of the fund and it is very much a fund “by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs” which may come as a delight to many tech savvy people here in Britain. They also plan on not performing any of the standard tricks played on new Entrepreneurs by VC’s such as “double dipping” which means that the VC’s put in the contract that they have the option of taking a bigger stake when the next round of funding takes place diluting ownership quite significantly for the founders.

Well I hope that it works out for them (and the companies they fund) and it’s good to know that I may have a place to go in the future if I ever require funding. It is really nice to know that it is localish and being run by people who have been in the same boat themselves and know the many pitfalls that most fall into first time around.

According to an article on the BBC it is, but I am not so sure. The truth of the matter is that we definitely have the talent available in the UK. Almost everyone I work with is very smart and very able, but that has never really been our problem. The people with the money is our problem as they are usually just more careful about what they do with it or at least expect too much of the business to make it viable for someone to put all their time and effort into making it a success compared to our American counterparts. Read more »