We must make the UK the best place to build a company for the best talent in the world
Nowadays, you’ll hear a lot of nonsense about “Britain’s work for the British”, as if Dover and Genius need a passport to stop. I’m here to tell you – in the case of exaggeration, Florida, and even provocation – if we keep moving forward, the only thing we want to export is our future.
Because it’s cold, unapologetic truth: some of the best companies in Britain are not founded by young men from Bromley or Loughborough. They were built by immigrants. No old-fashioned tie, no Oxford affiliation, in Garrick’s seat. It’s just the need for vision, endurance and burning that can build something better.
To make high street banking look like a digital banking revolut for dial-up internet. Founded by Nikolay Storonsky (pictured), born in Russia, and engaged in physics and hustle and bustle education, Revolut tear through the hard cortex of traditional finance, such as a chainsaw, through the waist bag. Or Monzo – With the help of a multicultural team, their mission is not British tradition but global innovation.
Then there is Elevenlabs, an AI voice technology company that changes from zero to twist speed in less time, while HMRC answers the phone. The Poles’ Piotrdąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski were founded, and they were also from Guildford. They are building a future for media in a country that is still arguing about Radio 4.
and synthesis. God bless it. A very cool startup that even Americans are jealous. An AI video platform used by companies around the world, led by a team of immigrant founders whose collective ambitions make the council’s house look like a feast for a village. They are not here for weather or late trains. They came here to build things. Thank God, they did it.
Now, imagine if we tell them that all of us are having trouble with passport control, imagine it. “Sorry, companion, can’t let you in. We have a guy in Swindon with raspberry rind and a dream.” Ridiculous, right? But that’s where we lose. There are more visas here, more remarks about “taking back control”, and suddenly, Britain became a country of heritage rather than a hub of invention.
I’m not saying British-born entrepreneurs shouldn’t be praised. They do this – many of them are sensational. But if we want to build a truly great entrepreneurial economy, it has nothing to do with geography. It’s about gravity. Britain must be the center of gravity for the best ideas in the world. The smartest thinker. The Hungest Founder. The craziest dreamer. Not only the people born in the sound of the bow bell.
We won’t win by narrowing the door. We won by making Britain the best bloody place on the planet to start a company. This means a generous and smart visa program. This means a start-up tax benefit using real teeth. This means that your uncle doesn’t need an investment channel in the House of Lords. This means – it is crucial that this culture doesn’t ridicule innovation for ambitiousness, like awkward dinner guests.
If you ask me, the home office should distribute the Platinum Class welcome pack at Heathrow Airport. “Welcome to the UK, here is your innovative visa, coffee and instructions to the nearest co-working space.” Let’s treat entrepreneurs in the way we treat Premier League footballers: as an integral import that can improve the entire game.
Instead, we let Nigel-From-Twitter explode about “bringing back to our country” while the most talented people on Earth quietly bought one-way tickets from Berlin, Austin or Dubai.
Do you know what makes Silicon Valley? Not only code and venture capital. Continuous people pour in, they don’t give monkeys about the status quo. Someone with an accent, ambition and absolutely no aware of when to quit. Does it sound familiar? it should. That was the spirit of building the best startups in the UK.
Yet, for all the history of our trade and talent, empire and business, we now seem more interested than invite our own glory. It is shortsighted, self-deception and stupid. It’s like unplugging the router, because the internet is a bit “foreign”.
The truth is, we are innovating in the global arms race. Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, climate technology – all move at distorted speeds. If we want to be in the room that happens, we need to open the door.
No, it has nothing to do with immigration relatively Chance. It’s about immigration As Chance. About the collapse of supply chains, political polarization, interest rates in the Hokey Cokey world, realizing that talent is our last competitive advantage.
So let’s be bold. Let us be magnets of ambition. Let’s stop pretending to be great wearing a specific passport and start building a UK that says to every global innovator: “Yes. Here. Now.”
Because if we don’t do this, the future revolution and revolutionaries will not be British. They will be Belgians. Or Bali. Or in Boston.
We will leave here, pride and poverty, wondering why all our best ideas now come with a return address for Zurich.
