When Chancellor Jeremy Hunt declared that the UK was on track to become the next Silicon Valley, UK tech was conflicted. Comparing the UK to the fabled US tech sector is both a help and a hindrance.
There’s no doubting the Valley’s achievements in creating so many of the biggest companies of the last 30 years. This is a worthy benchmark for the UK tech sector to aim for. After all, which aspiring bedroom entrepreneur would not want to be the next Larry Page, Elon Musk or Susan Wojcicki?
Silicon Valley has a formidable entrepreneurial culture and can-do attitude, where failure is part of the journey. The UK doesn’t lack ambition or ideas, but fear of failure is inhibiting. Failure needs to be part of the entrepreneurial experience and many second or third-time founders will attest that it was this that finally helped them find their successful idea....