Geir Freysson – caffinated technology

I had the pleasure of being invited to give a talk to a selection of some of the most exciting technology companies in Belgium and Luxembourg at the British Embassy in Brussels along with Richard Barnes the deputy mayor of London (who speaks Norwegian – now you know that),  Rossana Lawes, Director of Development at the Olympics Park Legacy Company, James Blakemore of Sector Marketing and Chris Moore from Tech City.

My talk was titled “Why Tech City?” and was about our experience of running a company in Iceland which is targeting London as its first market for international expansion.

About us: A tale of two cities

For a company like ours it makes perfect sense to base our development team in Reykjavík rather than London. Office space in London can cost more than fifty times what it costs in Reykjavík per square meter, the talent pool in Reykjavík is rich and the work ethic is strong. Skype was originally developed in Tallin, Estonia, which is still the company’s largest office.

But business development is a different story. With under 320 thousand inhabitants Iceland isn’t a big market. So every Icelandic startup is founded with the idea of expanding outwards. So where do you go? Silicon Valley? Berlin? Shanghai? We chose London.

The opportunity: London is huge – and it’s not just a technology hub

“Why London rather than Silicon Valley?” We get asked this a lot. Our flagship product, Brand Regard, is a software-as-a-service brand asset management application. Our target users are marketing and branding professionals and one of our routes to market is via advertising and branding agencies. There aren’t many cities in the world that rival London when it comes to targeting these kinds of companies.

Would it be easier for us to raise more funding if we were based in Silicon Valley? Maybe. Would it be easier to get traction? Not necessarily. And funding usually follows traction – not the other way around.

The challenge: London is huge – but the startup scene can help

Finding decision makers, setting up meetings, closing deals – most of this is harder and takes longer in London than in Reykjavík. Both because your support network won’t relocate along with your business and because London is one of the biggest cities in the world. This is where the city’s startup scene can be helpful.  Places like Tech Hub and networking events like the Silicon Roundabout Social Club (and many more) are full of people who, despite being busy building up their own business, are eager to help. This leads to introductions which lead to deals.

It remains to be seen where London’s recent growth in tech startups will lead and there is no cliché more tired than comparing a burgeoning tech scene to Silicon Valley. But thanks to the know-how that has been built up in London over the last decade, the city has become a very viable place to build a technology startup. And for enterprise software companies like ours, proximity to the client is at least as important as proximity to funding and early adopters.

Which is why we choose London.