How people arrived at their start up idea

[estwig]

I don't think most people in business have a start-up idea, it is usually done out of necessity or seeing an opportunity. The necessity to fit around family life or other commitments, or lack of employment choices, are the main reasons for starting a business. Or like myself, a miserable anti-social b*st*rd who doesn't like being told!

 

[Toby Willows]

Can you name these British startups which made the US giant startups existance possible? Some faint distant relationship doesn't count, by the way.

Well you’ve had one, I’ll give you another, Clive Sinclair who made home computing a affordable reality. So with out Sir Timothy Berners-Lee and Sir Clive Sinclair your Uber, Google etc wouldn’t exist.

 

[APW]

I’ll give you a third. How about Alexander Graham Bell without him where would you plug in your modem too?

 

[Mr D]

Ad hominems are unbecoming.

I've had three completed survey responses so far from entrepreneurs who are well versed in non traditional tech start ups, so clearly my survey is doable.

Yes I daresay its doable, so is writing on public toilet walls but usually people don't crow about having done it.

 

[Mr D]

I’ll give you a third. How about Alexander Graham Bell without him where would you plug in your modem too?

Polite answers only I take it?

 

[NewGardenStyle]

Naysayers contend that’s hardly surprising. Aside perhaps from chip designer Arm and accounting software group Sage, the country that practically invented both the computer and the internet has failed to produce a flagship global technology group to rival Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Apple.

“If you say you’re building a start-up in the UK, most people think you’re unemployed,” says 27-year-old Alice Bentinck – a co-founder of Entrepreneur First, a competitive accelerator program which aims to nurture business talent among the UK’s top technical graduates."

“The UK operates on the basis of financial services risk, not entrepreneurial risk,” said Prince Andrew. “We’ve got to adapt that entrepreneurial spirit to the UK.”

As the FT points out the strength of the UK lies in it's proximity to Europe and expat talents within the country. That is, Until May 2019 at least...

"An innovative tech company in London can aspire to have “the DNA of a consumer-savvy Swedish product manager, an Israeli data scientist, a Cambridge or Finnish engineer, and a commercially astute London marketeer,” says Debu Purkayastha, entrepreneur-in-residence at venture capital group Octopus Investments and former principal of new business development at Google."

So you are basing your assertion that the UK is miles behind on tech start ups on the basis of:

1. There is no UK tech company as big as the leading American ones.
2. A meaningless statement from the founder of a random accelerator program.
3. The opinion of Prince Andrew?
4. The expectation that all foreign tech workers will leave London next year.

 

[APW]

Polite answers only I take it?

What you do with your plugs is your own business lol.

How about a more recent inventor, Kane Kramer, without him where would Apple be in the world?

 

[APW]

Someone coming on a UK business forum slating UK start ups is like a yank claiming they won world war 2.

 

[enquirer]

I have been self employed for 18 years now, many different businesses in different industries, some worked and made money and some didn't and out of everything i have ever done, that article is all gobbledegoo to me and if you think a real actual business talks like that then you are in for a shock.

Real business people are straight talking people, they only care about what they can get cheaper/better and what they can sell. Business articles are written by wannabes who are more concerned with there business persona or corporate monkeys that are only interested in climbing a ladder.

Speaking from direct experience the tech industry doesn't navigate like traditional startups.

I’ll give you a third. How about Alexander Graham Bell without him where would you plug in your modem too?

So you are basing your assertion that the UK is miles behind on tech start ups on the basis of:

1. There is no UK tech company as big as the leading American ones.
2. A meaningless statement from the founder of a random accelerator program.
3. The opinion of Prince Andrew?
4. The expectation that all foreign tech workers will leave London next year.

Someone coming on a UK business forum slating UK start ups is like a yank claiming they won world war 2.

I've collected 5 survey responses so far (I aimed for about 7 however), so I'll leave you with this regarding your flag waving patriotism. Please ignore the framing topic of Brexit within the article- because that is not the crux of my point. As someone who has spent time in over 3 continents and worked as a Graduate Engineer both her and abroad the sentiments expressed below resonates with me and those who have international experience. Feel free to respond or not, I've got what I've come here for.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...wflake-syndrome-and-you-need-to-a6853141.html


British arrogance stems from the fact that the nation has struggled to find its place in the world in the aftermath of the Empire and the World Wars that marred the first half of the 20th century. This period saw the drastic rise of the USA as the dominant imperial power, with the biggest army and the largest share of the world's wealth. Britain's relative importance was grossly diminished, even if it does still hold a seat on the UN Security Council. Simply put, we’re not such big shots any more - and we could be about to be relegated to the kids’ table.

This ones for you, @APW Notice most of the influencers you have mentioned are from eons ago?

The simple fact is that Britain is now relatively insignificant in the international arena. The result has been a romanticization of the era when Britain was "great" and a longing to return to this. In reality, of course, it was only the ruling elites - as it is today - who benefited from colonial riches.

 

[APW]

Judging by your responses you come across very arrogant which will get you no where in business.

Also I didn’t mention any influencers I talked about pioneers that if it wasn’t for them and their foresight we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.

Lastly quoting articles also shows your weakness in having an actual view point instead you just copy and paste someone else’s opinions (that they made money from)

 

[Mitch3473]

I'll raise it a Charles Babbage and 1 Alan Turin........

 

[fisicx]

My initial post: ''So I’m doing some research on startup owners / aspiring start up owners / those who have launched startups at some point, and how they found their business idea.''

There you go again. Using words differently to the rest of us. The bloke next door has just started a new local business. He saw a gap in the market and is now making money. He didn't need an MVP, to be lean or do any of the funky things you seem to enjoy. He's a startup just like any other. No software required.

 

[Mr D]

Someone coming on a UK business forum slating UK start ups is like a yank claiming they won world war 2.

When everyone else knows the Russians won it. With a little help from Western countries of course.

 

[APW]

When everyone else knows the Russians won it. With a little help from Western countries of course.

I like to think a joint operation between Britain and Russia with the yanks running operation human shield (someone’s gotta protect our tanks from bullets lol)

 

[Mr D]

Speaking from direct experience the tech industry doesn't navigate like traditional startups.







I've collected 5 survey responses so far (I aimed for about 7 however), so I'll leave you with this regarding your flag waving patriotism. Please ignore the framing topic of Brexit within the article- because that is not the crux of my point. As someone who has spent time in over 3 continents and worked as a Graduate Engineer both her and abroad the sentiments expressed below resonates with me and those who have international experience. Feel free to respond or not, I've got what I've come here for.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...wflake-syndrome-and-you-need-to-a6853141.html


British arrogance stems from the fact that the nation has struggled to find its place in the world in the aftermath of the Empire and the World Wars that marred the first half of the 20th century. This period saw the drastic rise of the USA as the dominant imperial power, with the biggest army and the largest share of the world's wealth. Britain's relative importance was grossly diminished, even if it does still hold a seat on the UN Security Council. Simply put, we’re not such big shots any more - and we could be about to be relegated to the kids’ table.

This ones for you, @APW Notice most of the influencers you have mentioned are from eons ago?

The simple fact is that Britain is now relatively insignificant in the international arena. The result has been a romanticization of the era when Britain was "great" and a longing to return to this. In reality, of course, it was only the ruling elites - as it is today - who benefited from colonial riches.

The US had the biggest army?
Who knew?

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/29-largest-armies-in-the-world.html

According to that they are third. They don't need the biggest army in the world, they've never had to fight as a nation with just an army.

 

[Noah]

When your start ups are scaled up to a fraction of Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Lyft, Google, Reddit etc etc please let us all know.

Psion (still the best hand-held computers ever made) produced Symbian, which was the basis of the OS for a telephone company called Nokia - you may have heard of them.

Anyway, enough of this silly male-appendage-waving - if you are spending this much time and effort defending a quick 10-minute survey, you might have posted on the wrong forum.

 

[Noah]

Well you’ve had one, I’ll give you another, Clive Sinclair who made home computing a affordable reality.

Careful - that path brings you perilously close to Amstrad, and we all know what happened there.

 

[Toby Willows]

Careful - that path brings you perilously close to Amstrad, and we all know what happened there.

I take your point but Clive Sinclair invented and innovated Alan Sugar just produced cheaper and screwed up the Sinclair brand (probably partly due to vanity on his part). I was really giving examples of innovators, I don’t think Alan Sugar could ever be accused of having an original thought!!!

 

[APW]

I don’t think Alan Sugar could ever be accused of having an original thought!!!

Now that’s not really fair is it. I mean he did have one original thought about the iPod would be a complete failure.

 

[Davidincognac]

i went to an IM conference in London, saw how IM works and then started to look for a niche market

 

[BustersDogs]

Out of curiousity, can you explain how you arrived to your business idea in that case?.... A mix of both?... Or something else entirely?...

Long story, but in short, someone suggested being a dog walker would suit me. Up to that point I NEVER wanted to be self-employed so it wasn't even on my mind to think about working for myself.

 

[fisicx]

Closing this thread as market research is only for full members