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Ask HN: Is it necessary to operate from the USA to succeed?

13 points by gotzephyr ↗ HN
I built Zephyr in Glasgow, Scotland. But on many an occasion I have been advised "you need to go to London for realistic investment, but Stateside would be better".

Investment rates in the UK and Europe are lower and even the preferred investment sectors are different, while the USA market and customers within tend to take a punt much earlier on ideas as has been seen with hyper growth for Slack...but ask somebody here about Slack and 9/10 haven't heard of it.

I would love for Scotland to grasp the nettle here, we have considerable talent in our universities and engineers with great ideas, our gaming industry is strong too but if the advice given is to leave the country to succeed, what chance is there to develop things locally?

What are your thoughts, can companies make it happen where they are or should we build to emigrate, with our sights set on Silicon Valley?

13 comments

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dangrossman
Outside investors are not a requirement to start or operate a successful business. The only things you need to create "Scotland's Slack" are a computer, an internet connection and a $5 VPS.
indoindo
Of course, Yes. Venture capital industry has more growth in the USA and they have many Tech Investors.

more preferable place is NYC or SF where many tech companies out there. SV is expansive place to living in i guess.

but i strongly recommended if you clone slack for your country even if you live in USA Good luck!

syllogism
Moving to another country ain't easy.

I decided to move from Sydney to Berlin when I decided to do a start-up. I did it because I like it here, cost of living is lower, there's a scene, and it will be much easier to hire for reasonable prices than it would be in Sydney.

But...It's been a pretty massive saga, full of uncertainties.

Does the US even offer a visa category that applies to you? Immigration uncertainty is really bad to have hanging over you. At the end of the day, the company resides where the M.D. resides...So if you have to leave the U.S., I believe exit taxes will becomes due. My understanding is that means you'll owe 20-30% of the value of the company, without necessarily any liquidity associated.

nphyte
focus on the business and customers more than the investors or your lack of being in a hub
staunch
1. You definitely do not have to be in Silicon Valley to create a hugely successful startup.

2. Silicon Valley startups have a number of unique advantages that are sometimes critically important.

mooreds
What are the unique advantages of Silicon Valley?
staunch
It depends on the startup, but most of the unique advantages derive from having a huge portion of the world's greatest technical people and smartest investors gathered together in one area, tacitly working together as one industry.
charlesdm
Customers matter more than investors. Some people forget business is about creating things that create value for customers, and not about trying to raise capital from investors.

1. There is a ton of capital in Europe. It's just harder to access for the average 20 year old, and investors tend to be a bit more conservative. It's all about building relationships and about your network. Europe has many family offices that invest directly into the top US venture funds (i.e. Sequoia)

2. If you're doing something in FinTech, go to London or NYC. If you're doing something in fashion, London/Paris/NYC/Milan. Oil & Gas? The UAE, Texas, etc. Anyway, you get the point. Go where the customer is.

Flipping an app however, is harder. Maybe that's not such a bad thing.

scardine
It is the same difference from starting a Soccer team in Spain or in Japan. In Spain you have the whole ecosystem in place, the same happens in Silicon Valley. That is why most of the world's best Soccer professionals are in Spain.

It is not impossible for a Japanese team to win the world's soccer championship, but to this day, only teams from Europe or South America won.

seaneking
Depends how you define success. Can't beat Silicon Valley for investment opportunity, but by the same token as others have said its not all about getting funded as fast and highly as possible. If you can reach your customers from where you are then you can grow from where you are. Take for eg: Aus/NZ (where I'm operating), certainly not renowned for VC activity, yet has it's share of very successful startups (Xero, Canva, Atlassian, etc.)
PebblesHD
On a personal level, how do you maintain your business here in Sydney given the costs associated. Compared to other places like London and San Francisco, Australia is expensive, the internet is slow, the government is not particularly technologically minded, i'm not really seeing any reason to stay?
seaneking
Well on a personal level, I really love living in Australia (in melbourne btw), so I stay. But to answer the other points - in a straight comparison to SF yes it's expensive, but wages are also good so it tends to even out. Internet speeds are a joke, but most commercial buildings and all co-working spaces have 100mb cable, so it's a non-issue for work. As for the government, well, "not particularly technologically minded" is about the kindest thing you could say about the current party, but it's not a factor in my day-to-day work, and not enough reason for me to pack up and leave the country.
gotzephyr
Great advice folks. I suspect it will be a case of staging things. Prove the viability of the model, minimal seed fund for push to market and scale as our traction increases.

If the combined talents of the tech workforce here can drag Scotland along the path and turn it into a Silicon Glen then that's definitely a bonus. Just takes one big name to start the snowball rolling ☺