Original post by Parmy Olson via Forbes
A guest post by David Mytton
All around the world, governments are spending time and money to figure out the best way to attract the attention of entrepreneurs. New startups are a great way to stimulate the economy because they are seen as innovative and exciting, create new jobs and are in a unique position to generate real value just from an idea. Over the last five years, the British Government has announced changes in every annual budget to help nurture the growing ecosystem that had already started to establish itself organically in the United Kingdom. In my opinion, the effect of this has been to make Britain the best place to start a new business in 2012. Here’s why:
1) The barriers to starting a company have been falling.
Over the last 10 years I have been involved in the creation of five businesses in the UK, either as a sole founder or part of the founding team. In 2001, when I was 14, I did freelance programming in between schoolwork and formed my first company from my bedroom in Birmingham, England just a few years later. Since then, the regulatory and legal requirements behind exploring commercial ventures have actually become easier here. Whether that is registering as self employed and filling out a tax return through the U.K.’s color-coded online system, or incorporating a company in about an hour for £14, the barriers to getting started have been steadily getting lower.
