Over the past few months, Sam Sethi has been doing a wonderful job getting Techcrunch UK up, running and full of content. The hub that Sam's worked so hard to create has befitted all of us in the community and I for one am extremely grateful for what he's achieved.

The arrival of the inimitable Mike Butcher has only served to strengthen Techcrunch and I've little doubt it'll be hitting its exponential later this year.

A few weeks back, the site held its launch party and I was lucky enough not only to go along but also to be interviewed about Deeptag. The video of that interview is probably going to emerge sometime over the next few weeks but in the meantime there's a little intro to the party, to Techcrunch and even a little bit of me in the video below.



If you are doing a startup in the UK then do get in touch with the guys at Techcrunch. It's great to know who's doing what and both Mike and Sam are smart guys and good writers (though make sure you're good, Mike's not afraid to pack his punches ;)

I was extremely proud and excited today to find out that two of my good friends from Oxford, Kulveer and Harjeet Taggar have been accepted onto this winter's Y Combinator program with their startup BOSO.

BOSO is a listings site specifically for students and the guys have gotten a load of traction in several UK universities so far. I can't say just how pleased I am for them to get onto Y Combinator. Paul Graham's name is money and not only will this boost BOSO but it'll put them right in the heart of everything that's happening in San Francisco.

At the same time as being happy for them though I'm sad for the UK. Of the very few startups we have, one has now left and the UK will be the poorer for it. BOSO is going to go on to be a great success but even in the unlikely event that it wasn't, we're now two smart, big-thinking entrepreneurs down. For those people watching this space here they'll know that that's not an insignificant hit.

I can see exactly Harj and Kulv have gone and it's so tempting to join them. One of the first things they said to me was "we're going to be working in Evan Williams' office, come and join us" - I have to admit I'm tempted.

The density of smart people who understand this space is so much higher in San Francisco than it is in London and the opportunities are so much greater. People look slightly ashamed for anyone aiming as big as Google here - there's a feeling that you shouldn't embarrass yourself by trying.

You know what though? We do want to build a big company, a really big company. In the consumer-facing data-space it's kind of essential. Many of the greatest companies on the internet (Google, EBay, Craigslist, MySpace, Facebook) are essentially information traders and information is a commodity with low marginal costs.

Low marginal costs but large, skill-hungry, fixed costs. If you're going to invest in those fixed development costs you'd better be planning to trade an awful lot of information. None of that is easy but it doesn't mean it's not 100% what we're aiming at.

Finance for early stage technology is never going to be easy to find but if if I was offered a mile long swim through honey as an alternative I'd reach straight for my goggles.

We've been lucky enough to meet some great Angels and now to have received some offers but since seeking funding for Deeptag, one of the more ambitious ones we had was £100k for 80% of the company. Two years of work and tens of thousands of pounds of investment valued at a total of £25k.

We kindly declined the gentleman's offer.

It's very flattering to have someone offer to back you but such terms are not exactly sowing the seeds of a thousand flowers.

The UK is in a classic Catch 22. We're never going to get the likes of Amazon, Google or Yahoo in this country until someone has built one and people believe it's possible. Unfortunately, it seems we're loosing the few chances we do have. Ryan, you'd better keep your ass firmly stapled to our shores.

There may not be the same density of people who get it in London but I suspect there are comparable numbers in the UK and we're not leaving just yet. We're confident that as hard as it's going to be to get off the mark and get visible, there are extraordinary people here once you do.

In the meantime, Harj and Kulv, have no doubt that I'm going to be milking you for a dinner invitation with Paul ;)

Great work guys and good luck.