Nothing ventured, nothing gamed
I hear stories from independent game developers that startups have closed down - the Venture Capital agreement had a Brexit clause and the VC's have pulled the plug.
Anyone got any corroboration? I'd heard about Brexit 'break' clauses in real estate purchases, but I was completely unaware of their existence in Venture Capital agreements...
...What if these Brexit breaks are embedded in 'business incubator' agreements, or second-stage Private Equity funding, too?
Again: anyone got any hard data, sources I can link to? I'm looking forward to reading a conclusive "NO, and here's conclusive proof that brecit breaks are not a problem".
Indy game devs are tiny, but they're the idea fountain for a multibillion-dollar export industry in the UK - some become the next Electronic Arts, some sel up and become EA's next big thing, some a million and never get any further - and most, of course, sink without trace.
That's what startups do, mostly...
And the devs move on, get another project running, or become the stokers or the stars in well-established companies; the failures aren't really 'without trace' at all.
Even if there only ever were the four Brexit-break VC agreements I heard about today, getting second-stage funding is going to be difficult for the existing indies still in 'startup' phase.
Getting first-round funding might be difficult, too; startups won't start up at all, and we'll never get to hear about that.
We'll know that in the next few weeks and months...
...Whether 'Article 50' notification starts the formal exit process from the EU, or not. If these stories about indy game devs startups are true, the brexit damage has moved into the real economy already.
And another question, beyond the multibillion-dollar game industry:
What does this mean for biotech and pharma startups?
I have a handful of friends who kinda disappeared off the radar in the last few months - I never paid it much attention - but they've turned up in Europe's new hot hi-tech hub: Berlin.
I'm happy to admit that they are quite a bit smarter than me; and somewhat uneasy with the thought of how much smarter they are turning out to be.
This is a copy of my post here, on Dreamwidth, which has
comments. OpenID will allow you to comment there from your LiveJournal session: contact me if you have problems.
Anyone got any corroboration? I'd heard about Brexit 'break' clauses in real estate purchases, but I was completely unaware of their existence in Venture Capital agreements...
...What if these Brexit breaks are embedded in 'business incubator' agreements, or second-stage Private Equity funding, too?
Again: anyone got any hard data, sources I can link to? I'm looking forward to reading a conclusive "NO, and here's conclusive proof that brecit breaks are not a problem".
Indy game devs are tiny, but they're the idea fountain for a multibillion-dollar export industry in the UK - some become the next Electronic Arts, some sel up and become EA's next big thing, some a million and never get any further - and most, of course, sink without trace.
That's what startups do, mostly...
And the devs move on, get another project running, or become the stokers or the stars in well-established companies; the failures aren't really 'without trace' at all.
Even if there only ever were the four Brexit-break VC agreements I heard about today, getting second-stage funding is going to be difficult for the existing indies still in 'startup' phase.
Getting first-round funding might be difficult, too; startups won't start up at all, and we'll never get to hear about that.
We'll know that in the next few weeks and months...
...Whether 'Article 50' notification starts the formal exit process from the EU, or not. If these stories about indy game devs startups are true, the brexit damage has moved into the real economy already.
And another question, beyond the multibillion-dollar game industry:
What does this mean for biotech and pharma startups?
I have a handful of friends who kinda disappeared off the radar in the last few months - I never paid it much attention - but they've turned up in Europe's new hot hi-tech hub: Berlin.
I'm happy to admit that they are quite a bit smarter than me; and somewhat uneasy with the thought of how much smarter they are turning out to be.
This is a copy of my post here, on Dreamwidth, which has
comments. OpenID will allow you to comment there from your LiveJournal session: contact me if you have problems.