[Update: Please join the TechCrunch Europe Facebook group]
Right after my long post about VCs and startups in Europe, something interesting happened. In the post I advised startups that – while starting-up on Europe offers great opportunities – it’s still smart thinking to put out feelers in Silicon Valley, or at least have some kind of connection.
Not long after we had a comment on the post from entrepreneur, alpha-geek and blogger Ben Metcalfe along the following lines:
“I’m really interested in reaching out to British start-ups that would like a ‘feeler’ in San Francisco/Silicon Valley. At this point I’m really keen to see if I can help the Brits get a leg up over here rather than thinking about business angles at the moment. So if you’re interested please contact me via the contact page on my blog.”
Now this is interesting because while Ben is now a pretty well connected guy out in the Valley now – currently working on MySpace and Seesmic – he started out 18 months ago virtually cold. Don’t be fooled by his vaguely left-field appearance – he’s a smart guy with a lot of experience both at Orange and the BBC. And now he knows what it’s like to be a Brit abroad in the Valley.
It’s probably unfair to highlight this offer with a whole blog post (sorry Ben!), but this seemed like too good to bury under the carpet. And while I’m at it, if you are a Brit out there in the Valley and feel like helping some UK and European startups have a voice out there, get in touch. Perhaps we can help build some kind of useful network out there…
[And I should also add that while TechCrunch UK and Ireland is my chief focus, I also write for TechCrunch.com, which is a useful platform for UK and European startups to be covered on].