Original post by NCT 

Hi-tech companies are springing up every week in London but more must be done to make the UK a powerhouse of innovationIn 1996, I left the UK to work for Apple in California. At the time, there were few opportunities for an ambitious software developer in Britain. California was a different story. Not only were the world’s best software companies based there, but the attitude towards new ventures was completely different and very exciting. Instead of the British attitude of “avoid failure at all costs”, on the west coast you are encouraged to take risks and try new ideas. If you fail, you get up and try again. Failure is recognised as the greatest tool for learning; until you’ve got a couple of spectacular failures under your belt, people tend not to take you seriously.Winston Churchill said: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” That attitude is at the heart of the Silicon Valley culture.I spent the next 10 years in the Valley, founding or helping to run four tech startups. Then, after three years at Google in New York, I returned to London. I realised the UK has changed significantly while I was away. There are clusters of tech startups across Britain with the biggest being “Silicon Roundabout” in Shoreditch.Working at a startup company is exciting and nerve-wracking. You don’t know whether the company will find success – indeed most startups fail. You work long hours to convert an idea into a real product that customers love. You take a small team of people and forge a functioning, successful business. When it goes well, it’s one of the most invigorating, challenging and exciting things you can do. When it goes badly, it’s a lot less pleasant. Closing down a failed company and laying off the people you’ve worked with is a hard lesson and you come away determined never to let that happen again.A year ago, I left Google and joined Songkick, one of the original Silicon Roundabout startups. Songkick is a young, ambitious company with worldwide reach: we’re currently the second largest live music website in the world, with more than three quarters of our users coming from outside the UK. Our product is used by millions and helps music fans discover great new bands – on average Songkick users go to 70% more concerts in the year after they start using us than they did in the year before.In a time when we seem to be drowning in bad economic news, Silicon Roundabout stands out as a real British success. New companies spring up every week and existing companies are growing fast. In October, Songkick organised the second “Silicon Milkroundabout” a job fair for startups. More than 100 companies attended, offering more than 500 jobs, and 1,500 developers came along on the day. That’s up from 40 startups and 400 developers at the first event in May. Clearly there is a lot of interest in working at a startup and there are a lot of opportunities to do so.Last week I met David Cameron at the launch of the Tech City Map. I was impressed by the prime minister’s interest in startups. He was informed, willing to listen and to offer concrete help. One of our biggest challenges is letting people know about what is happening in east London and the government’s involvement helps us highlight the exciting growth we are seeing

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