Not 100% Accurate

Yesterday morning Dave McClure came to our office and was asked to give a talk to the startups based here. I’m very glad he came. He was helpful, intelligent and uplifting.

One of the questions he was asked was how UK startups could be more like US startups and therefore become global tech companies.

Bear with me a moment but this is one of my favourite bands from when I was growing up:

They are called Tigertailz and are from the same part of Wales as me. Notice the high kicks, the pyrotechnics, the big hair and the guitar swings. As good as they were, what they were really trying to be was this:

And lets face it, its hard to out Motley Crue Motley Crue. My point here is that they were a Welsh version of the West Coast glam rock scene and that means they were never going to be as successful as West Coast glam rock versions of the West Coast glam rock scene.

Now look at this lot. I don’t believe any city other than Liverpool could have produced them, let alone another country. They didn’t set out to be a global phenomena, they’d have been happy to get a round of applause at the Bootle Fete. They became global by being themselves and starting locally:

Why am I banging on about musicians on a blog about football and technology? Because yesterday Dave McClure was asked what UK tech companies should do to be more like Silicon Valley and therefore Global tech companies. I don’t think they should try at all and judging by his reaction I think Dave agreed with me.

Language is the biggest tell-tale sign here of whether a UK startup is speaking in its own voice rather than someone else’s. Dave was asked whether UK startups should use American spelling, (eg “color” instead of “colour”) in order to appear to be a global company. Dave responded by saying that if a UK startup wanted to be a global company its copy should probably be written in Mandarin Chinese, Spanish or Arabic. I think his point was – why would you do that? What is more global about writing copy in American English than writing it in English?

Another example that I notice – people in the UK tech scene often refer to some “really smart guy” they know. What they normally mean by this is “I know someone that reminds me of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, he dresses like one, he sounds like one and he acts like one”. 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 stereoype and on we go creating Tigertailz instead of the Beatles.

How many times do you see a European tech entrepreneur take the stage at a conference and you feel like you’ve seen him somewhere before? The jeans and tee, the strange accent that is a bit European and a bit American, and then the question from the audience (assume an English audience in England here):

1. [insert name], how do you hire smart people? (in England “smart” means well dressed, the questioner means “clever” or intelligent)
2. [insert name], I guess you’re happy now you’re successful? (in England “I guess” doesn’t really exist, the questioner means “I assume”)
3. [insert name], you’re company is awesome (“brill” “fab”, I’d even take “cool” but come on who in the UK would have grown up describing something as “awesome” with a straight face?).

I’m not criticising people that speak like this and I realise that language evolves all the time and people’s influences come from all over the world – we rightly live in a global community. Indeed I use this language myself but that’s just the point, because Silicon Valley concentrated on being itself, it became a scene that was exportable. If Silicon Valley had tried to adapt how it spoke in order to enter European markets it would have been less successful – what we love about it is that it has its own tone of voice, and that’s what makes it special and cool.

The reason the UK tech scene is failing to be like Silicon Valley is because its trying to be like Silicon Valley. 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. They must find this and export it to the rest of the world. That’s what Facebook did, that’s what Guinness did, that’s what the Beatles did, that’s what Chanel did and that’s what Ferrari did.

So don’t be like a Silicon Valley clone in the name of becoming a Global Tech company, be yourself – thats whats really cool (NB I stole this last line from the American film, “Starsky and Hutch” – oh the irony).

Caveats:

1. I do realise that some companies are local by definition, I am not talking about these. I’m talking about companies with global potential that change their tone of voice to reach that potential;
2. its fine to be like a Silicon Valley company if that’s what your DNA is. You might be an American entrepreneur based in London for example;
3. I realise that you could base a startup aimed at one geo-location in another geo-location. A friend of mine’s dad writes for a Turkish newspaper from London, he obviously writes it in Turkish. So its fine to sound like a Silicon Valley startup if that’s the market you’re gunning for but then be prepared to compete with other Silicon Valley focused tech companies notably those in Silicon Valley. NB they will probably have more money than you;
4. I realise that you might not know what audience you’re going after when you start out. If your influences are the West Coast tech scene then so be it, that’s not what I’m talking about here;
5. Once you start growing, you might need to change your tone of voice to enter a specific market. That’s okay, just don’t do it from the offset because you feel like you can’t be yourself and succeed.