The London startup scene: Party like a rock star?

Too much funding and boozing? Not enough collaboration and execution?

Sounds like criticism reserved for troubled rock stars on the brink of a break-up, but Ben Colclough sees the same problems in the startup scene (specifically in London).

TechCrunch: The London startup scene: Too much funding, boozing and not enough collaboration and execution

Reminds me of a nice analogy drawn out by Shane Snow and referenced by Fred Wilson, which compares a Rock Band to a Tech Start-Up. I agree that the analogy is pretty spot on, except that it does not address what happens "if all goes wrong"... and chances are, it will.

Consider that in 2008, 106,000 new albums were released, but only 64 albums went Gold in 2009; meanwhile, 11,716 venture deals were struck between 2007 and 2009, but there were only 104 IPOs over that same time period (according to Thompson Reuters). Signing with a record label or a VC does not guarantee success, but sales sure will. I agree with Colclough that more time and attention needs to be paid to this piece of entrepreneurship.

Not that it should be all work and no play, though. Take Music Hackday London, which encourages collaboration and networking, but is centered around executing something quickly.

Work hard and have fun, but save the real celebration for later.

Read the full post at TechCrunch