The article centers around an email a TechCrunch reader wrote to Mike...
Hi Mike
I am just dropping you a quick email to help expose what I think is a serious issue with the UK tech industry. As a developer I have been working on a web based product for over a year. There is a huge (untapped) market for this product, it requires minimal overheads and has potential for a massive amount of growth.
So, what’s the problem you may ask?
Unfortunately I am based in XXXXX, which has virtually no VC organisations. Therefore I am having to approach VCs in London. The problem is that they do not have the slightest interest in talking to people such as myself, unless you are refered to them or meet them personally. This is a very big problem from my location! I am taking the time to travel to London in November, but getting VCs to meet you is an even bigger problem.
I’m sure you have lots of other issues and topics to address, but people in this industry exist across the country and its very hard for us to break into the market.
The author of the email certainly sounds like he means well, and who could blame a guy for taking a shot at VCs? :-) ... but in reality, VC's aren't that hard to reach. Their associates are at every event around, for starters... and warm introductions aren't that hard to get: VCs are pretty networked people, so finding a few mutual connections can't be that hard. LinkedIn is a terrific way to connect with VCs as well, if you can't think of anyone who might be a connector.
But even beyond that, a well written pitch email will get you in the door of any VC in the land. Really. Sure, VCs are busy, and you'll hear the bit about getting hundreds of business plans that they can't read. Yup. Business plans. Send anyone a 30-page tome, and you're unlikely to get a lot of responses... but send a well-crafted paragraph or two, and you will get meetings.
The second bit, about only doing local deals... that bit's more difficult. If the company's super early stage, and there's not a lot of experience in the team, then yeah you're going to have people only wanting to do local deals. As the companies get more mature, and the teams more experienced, VCs tend to do deals that are further and further away from home. It's got nothing to do with just wanting to do local deals, and everything to do with wanting to be able to keep an eye on your companies, and help them where you can.
It's the reason Y Combinator gets their startups to move to where they are for a summer.
There're always exceptions to this, but if you're starting a company, and you're committed to it, and you've got a wholly young / inexperienced team, then pack up and move to where the investors (and more importantly the other startups) are... whether that's moving from Memphis to San Francisco, or Leeds to London.
