The headline is a relevant one, but the article seems to focus on dress sense and accent? Imitation of success stories occurs in every walk of life - it just happens to be Silicon Valley people in this industry.
It's quite possible to be unique and have your own voice even if you are inspired by dressing and talking like Steve Jobs.
24 yo from London here. That language is completely standard to me. I've been saying awesome with a straight face for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure it's the best way to have made the point.
Agreed, and I don't want to just be a bore. Doesn't it seem odd to assume that UK people are talking with American accents just because of US startups too? How about TV, music & movies?
Being constructive, a better argument is that UK companies often seem to be waiting to grow to a certain point in order to move across to America. Or, to use the music analogy in the link, "make it big" in the States. Like many British bands, sometimes it's best just to be a big fish in a small pond rather than trying to crack America. That's my takeaway.
33 yo, and I can cope with using awesome too. I've even been known to use dude and on occasion, stoked. However, that is because I've always been into "extreme" sports (windsurfing, snowboarding, etc). In these sports, it is very much about small fairly close-knit communities who adopt common vocabularies made up of technical terms and also (normally) a bunch of "Americanisms" to express their feelings.
I see tremendous similarities between the startup culture and the extreme sports culture. Both tend to reject conventional methods of rewarding people with "status" (i.e. family background) and focus instead on meritocratic measures like ability / performance. Issues like nationality tend to also become less relevant as people travel around frequently. Thus it is not surprising and, is actually welcome, that a universal vocabulary has emerged to connect startup'ers wherever they might be based.
Of course, I accept that the author has a point about slavish imitation being a bad strategy. In extreme sports circles, no one likes the guy who turns up with all the kit and the lingo but without the skills, so the key lesson to UK startups is probably best summed up as: focus on walking the walk, before we start talking the talk.... ;)
(Separately, the Beatles might have emerged from Liverpool, but they were hugely influenced by a number of American acts, and indeed were involved in a virtual creative arms race against Brian Wilson at one point.)
I've lived in England and New Zealand and I felt the same; none of them seemed especially unusual to me. Who would describe something as "awesome"? Probably anyone who grew up in the 80s and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for a start...
I think the author is trying to adress what he sees as almost a cargo cult mentality. Dressing and looking like Steve Jobs is cool for aesthetic reasons, the man has a distinctive look. Steve Jobs isn't successful because of how he dresses, though.
24yo from London here too. The author's point was:
'Whats toxic is that this then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, teams get funding because they look/sound the part. This means that there are more teams that succeed that fit the stereotype and on we go creating Tigertailz instead of the Beatles.'
Morgan is using metaphors to show how UK startups need to be themselves. Instead of aping US startups as much as possible in every way they can (for example: dress sense and language), they need to be themselves, focus on developing their own styles whatever that may be.
Sure, but he makes no attempt to define what this "UK culture" they all need to adopt is (bar stating that The Beatles were popular and that Motley Crew were more like Motley Crew than a band that wasn't Motley Crew).
American culture's been slowly infiltrating the UK for decades (I don't have a problem with that), why should a particular group of people suddenly start rejecting it?
Maybe this article is just highlighting one of the effects of the internet. Easier long-distance communication means more people are exposed to foreign language and ideas, especially between technologically literate English speakers. How long did it take for the phrase 'epic win' to spread across the globe?
I'm not sure this guy understands how much of the English-speaking internet is produced by Americans, especially relating to technology. I'm from the UK, and a huge proportion of my media comes from the US (hasn't this been the case for a really long time anyway?) Even programming language tutorials have words like 'awesome'. The Brits aren't faking it, they've adopted that language because they've heard it so often.
It's silly to tell people to stick to one set of social norms because of their place of birth. Every culture is a mishmash. And anyway, the internet is making culture less dependent on geographical location.
>The Brits aren't faking it, they've adopted that language because they've heard it so often. //
I'd probably go so far as to say they've [we've] adopted that language becuase that's the culture we're living in. I live more in a culture that approximates US American culture, heavily skewed that way, by virtue of the internet, than I do in British culture.
Like you seem to intimate so long as we've been the poorer cousin WRT receiving media money this has been the case. We get a version of USA culture via movies and games and TV shows and books and the internet. If they amount to any substantial part of your life then you're living in that culture to some extent.
I've worked in Shoreditch for over 6 years. The startup people here don't dress like they do in Silicon Valley. And people in the UK use the word Awesome all the time. It might be an Americanisation but it's not on account of people trying to be like Twitter, it's because of the A Team and Knight Rider.
If people are asking whether they should spell it colour or color, that's probably the reason they are not doing well! What a ridiculously pointless thing to worry about.
For me there is an elephant in the room regarding UK startups not achieving the same sort of success as they do in the US. It's quite simple. People in the UK are far more risk averse than people in the US. It's a completely cultural thing, and it's not going to change any time soon.
>If people are asking whether they should spell it colour or color, that's probably the reason they are not doing well! What a ridiculously pointless thing to worry about. //
It's presentation. It doesn't want to be top on your list but if the majority of your market is en-US then it seems a little silly to write in en-GB. The voice of your prose and your online presence can be an important part of the confidence a user has with your proposal/product. Moreover US America still carries a "cool" factor in some places that Her Brittanic Majesties domain and subjects do not.
There's also (anecdotally) the reverse effect, where GB > US, apparently on the basis that Americans are brash and crude, whilst the British are somehow more sophisticated.
I can't say that's been entirely my experience, but I've certainly heard it voiced a few times.
OP is using the example of language to highlight a larger problem, not identifying it as a major problem in itself. That problem being aping US startups at the cost of an authentic, interesting local identity:
"To succeed UK tech companies must find the rich vein that defines the area that they are in or defines them as individuals. The thing that makes them interesting. It might be a genre, a technology, a specific problem that needs solving in their lives, a cultural phenomena (for ages SMSing was not popular in the US) or a style"
I can't agree enough. I'm British, and I wouldn't want to change that for the world. But growing up in the UK, ambitious young engineers dream of going to work for Microsoft or having a successful career within a big accountancy firm. Entrepreneurship is something that happens to other people - stereotypically, middle-aged men tinkering in their garages with clockwork radios.
I've somehow ended up in Silicon Valley, and the difference in aspirations is immense. To some extent, people dream of running companies far before they are capable of doing so - but this is what, over time, lets them build the fearlessness they need. By getting used to being out of your depth you can focus on making your enterprise a success, rather than how scary it all is.
The irony is, with private health insurance and a limited welfare system, the penalty for taking a risk and failing can be a lot worse in the US than the UK. There's just some key cultural difference. It's the same aspect of character that makes Americans less afraid to strike up conversation with strangers.
> The irony is, with private health insurance and a limited welfare system, the penalty for taking a risk and failing can be a lot worse in the US than the UK.
You're assuming something about what happens when you fail in the US that isn't true.
> But growing up in the UK, ambitious young engineers dream of going to work for Microsoft or having a successful career within a big accountancy firm.
That "UK dream" is the US backup plan.
Seriously - health insurance and welfare isn't one of the things on my "what happens if I fail" list because I'll just go get a job.
Oh, and the health insurance costs aren't actually that significant. I know, because I've had the backup plan fail and had to do them out of pocket. Since I'm "old", I'm pretty much a worse case.
All this is totally dependent on your personal background.
It may well be easier if you're "old", since you've already had a chance to establish a career and make yourself hireable - but I can imagine it takes some balls to try to start a business immediately after graduating (or instead of going to college) unless you have a pretty good parental safety net. However, we see it all the time from US kids - and not so much from the UK.
> It may well be easier if you're "old", since you've already had a chance to establish a career and make yourself hireable
You're assuming something about age discrimination....
> I can imagine it takes some balls to try to start a business immediately after graduating (or instead of going to college)
Huh? Why are you assuming that a youngster is less hirable/desirable after the biz that they start fails? They're not, they're more hirable/desirable, at least in the US. (Of course, if they weren't very hireable before, that may carry over, but we're not talking about those folks.)
> unless you have a pretty good parental safety net.
I'm inclined to agree here. I left the UK primarily because I felt the appetite for risk, and thus the potential for innovation, was significantly lower in the UK than SV. It's working out so far.
I'm English, and I don't think risk is anything to do with it. We have a culture in which success is almost considered something to be ashamed of. If someone does make a fortune in high-tech, they'll be lambasted as the hated "rich" who are apparently responsible for all the country's problems.
You know, the BBC calculated that only the top 30% of taxpayers are net contributors. There are 30M income tax payers in the UK, so that means 85% of the population get more out of the system than they put in. Rather than being grateful, they resent the 15% who give them everything for not giving even more. That is why in the UK, people keep their heads down.
I think this commentary is relevant even within the U.S. It reminds me of companies like http://brainsonfire.com/ and http://bellstrike.com/ who have put the plug in for their state (South Carolina) when they present themselves nationally. Despite presenting nationally and working internationally, Geno Church is so totally South Carolina in his speech and presentation. It's distinct. Some other examples come to mind as well, like http://sproutbox.com/ and their pride of Bloomington, IN, etc.
The underlying point which has nothing to do with nationality and merits ongoing consideration from every human being is that there's a fine line between learning from someone good and cargo culting.
Seems like the author is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The key is to be thoughtful about what traits you learn from, not to give up on learning from others altogether.
27 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 60.8 ms ] threadIt's quite possible to be unique and have your own voice even if you are inspired by dressing and talking like Steve Jobs.
Being constructive, a better argument is that UK companies often seem to be waiting to grow to a certain point in order to move across to America. Or, to use the music analogy in the link, "make it big" in the States. Like many British bands, sometimes it's best just to be a big fish in a small pond rather than trying to crack America. That's my takeaway.
I see tremendous similarities between the startup culture and the extreme sports culture. Both tend to reject conventional methods of rewarding people with "status" (i.e. family background) and focus instead on meritocratic measures like ability / performance. Issues like nationality tend to also become less relevant as people travel around frequently. Thus it is not surprising and, is actually welcome, that a universal vocabulary has emerged to connect startup'ers wherever they might be based.
Of course, I accept that the author has a point about slavish imitation being a bad strategy. In extreme sports circles, no one likes the guy who turns up with all the kit and the lingo but without the skills, so the key lesson to UK startups is probably best summed up as: focus on walking the walk, before we start talking the talk.... ;)
(Separately, the Beatles might have emerged from Liverpool, but they were hugely influenced by a number of American acts, and indeed were involved in a virtual creative arms race against Brian Wilson at one point.)
'Whats toxic is that this then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, teams get funding because they look/sound the part. This means that there are more teams that succeed that fit the stereotype and on we go creating Tigertailz instead of the Beatles.'
Morgan is using metaphors to show how UK startups need to be themselves. Instead of aping US startups as much as possible in every way they can (for example: dress sense and language), they need to be themselves, focus on developing their own styles whatever that may be.
American culture's been slowly infiltrating the UK for decades (I don't have a problem with that), why should a particular group of people suddenly start rejecting it?
I'm not sure this guy understands how much of the English-speaking internet is produced by Americans, especially relating to technology. I'm from the UK, and a huge proportion of my media comes from the US (hasn't this been the case for a really long time anyway?) Even programming language tutorials have words like 'awesome'. The Brits aren't faking it, they've adopted that language because they've heard it so often.
It's silly to tell people to stick to one set of social norms because of their place of birth. Every culture is a mishmash. And anyway, the internet is making culture less dependent on geographical location.
I'd probably go so far as to say they've [we've] adopted that language becuase that's the culture we're living in. I live more in a culture that approximates US American culture, heavily skewed that way, by virtue of the internet, than I do in British culture.
Like you seem to intimate so long as we've been the poorer cousin WRT receiving media money this has been the case. We get a version of USA culture via movies and games and TV shows and books and the internet. If they amount to any substantial part of your life then you're living in that culture to some extent.
/ramble
If people are asking whether they should spell it colour or color, that's probably the reason they are not doing well! What a ridiculously pointless thing to worry about.
For me there is an elephant in the room regarding UK startups not achieving the same sort of success as they do in the US. It's quite simple. People in the UK are far more risk averse than people in the US. It's a completely cultural thing, and it's not going to change any time soon.
It's presentation. It doesn't want to be top on your list but if the majority of your market is en-US then it seems a little silly to write in en-GB. The voice of your prose and your online presence can be an important part of the confidence a user has with your proposal/product. Moreover US America still carries a "cool" factor in some places that Her Brittanic Majesties domain and subjects do not.
I can't say that's been entirely my experience, but I've certainly heard it voiced a few times.
"To succeed UK tech companies must find the rich vein that defines the area that they are in or defines them as individuals. The thing that makes them interesting. It might be a genre, a technology, a specific problem that needs solving in their lives, a cultural phenomena (for ages SMSing was not popular in the US) or a style"
I've somehow ended up in Silicon Valley, and the difference in aspirations is immense. To some extent, people dream of running companies far before they are capable of doing so - but this is what, over time, lets them build the fearlessness they need. By getting used to being out of your depth you can focus on making your enterprise a success, rather than how scary it all is.
The irony is, with private health insurance and a limited welfare system, the penalty for taking a risk and failing can be a lot worse in the US than the UK. There's just some key cultural difference. It's the same aspect of character that makes Americans less afraid to strike up conversation with strangers.
You're assuming something about what happens when you fail in the US that isn't true.
> But growing up in the UK, ambitious young engineers dream of going to work for Microsoft or having a successful career within a big accountancy firm.
That "UK dream" is the US backup plan.
Seriously - health insurance and welfare isn't one of the things on my "what happens if I fail" list because I'll just go get a job.
Oh, and the health insurance costs aren't actually that significant. I know, because I've had the backup plan fail and had to do them out of pocket. Since I'm "old", I'm pretty much a worse case.
It may well be easier if you're "old", since you've already had a chance to establish a career and make yourself hireable - but I can imagine it takes some balls to try to start a business immediately after graduating (or instead of going to college) unless you have a pretty good parental safety net. However, we see it all the time from US kids - and not so much from the UK.
You're assuming something about age discrimination....
> I can imagine it takes some balls to try to start a business immediately after graduating (or instead of going to college)
Huh? Why are you assuming that a youngster is less hirable/desirable after the biz that they start fails? They're not, they're more hirable/desirable, at least in the US. (Of course, if they weren't very hireable before, that may carry over, but we're not talking about those folks.)
> unless you have a pretty good parental safety net.
That's not particularly relevant.
You know, the BBC calculated that only the top 30% of taxpayers are net contributors. There are 30M income tax payers in the UK, so that means 85% of the population get more out of the system than they put in. Rather than being grateful, they resent the 15% who give them everything for not giving even more. That is why in the UK, people keep their heads down.