Live bands site Songkick has achieved something fairly rare for a European startup. Rare enough to be worth a mention, at least. In common with what appears to be a trend of Google people escaping to new startups in the Valley, it’s hired a big gun out of Google’s London office.

Dan Crow, a former Tech Lead/Manager at Google for search and mobile, has an impressive CV. He’s a PhD in Machine Learning, worked at Apple and is a former a co-founder of three start-ups in the Valley including the wildly successful Blurb. He then did six years at Google in NYC and London.