Rich9

Lots of people are talking about where to locate, with the metropolises of SF and London being favoured over more remote locations. Ryan at Carsonified makes a good case for staying-put in Bath, while Marc Andreessen also speculates about location in his excellent series on how to plan your career- ‘go where the action is’. Mike Butcher also joins the debate lambasting those VCs who are blinkered when it comes to funding businesses that don’t cut the geographic mustard.

It does make sense that the concentration of money, resources and good people will be higher in larger cities, but I think there’s a case to be made for staying local, keeping the money in your own economy and building your business on that basis. If you want to go and join the crowd, go for it! Otherwise build your business around how you want to live your life. If people won’t invest in your because of where you live, then they aren’t the right people for you anyway.

I’d rather see a vibrant, productive community developed right here in Belfast rather than watch talent and ideas drain away. This sentiment was only reinforced when Kelvin MacKenzie (former Editor of The Sun) came on the Nolan show this morning accusing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland of draining the ‘profit’ out of the south east of England.

According to ’statistics’ that economy generates enough wealth to keep the rest of us going. Now I know there are lots of issues at play here, but if they want to cut us loose and keep all that hard-earned cash for themselves, then perhaps they should move a few oil refineries, steel works and other heavy industries to Kent and the home counties, just to keep the balance right.