Reply to the Telegraphs Milo Yiannopoulos

So I was browsing my tweets yesterday and came across this article by Milo Yiannopoulos - Sun Tech Mission 2009 its still grim up North looks like Milo has managed to upset quite a few people and in my opinion people are quite right to be outraged. I thought that the article warranted a reply. I started to put a few thoughts together myself and thought I would contact a few people in the region and collate some comments/replies and post them in addition to my response. This morning I received a few comments and also links to replies which have already been written. It looks like Milo has even responded to some of the blog posts and comments as well.

So I have scrapped my response as I fully agree with all the comments below in one way or another. There as also been a large number of comments on the blog itself so be sure to go and read.

Sarat Pediredla - Partner & Co-founder - hedgehog lab

Read Sarats blog post in reply to this article which has also sparked a response from Milo and others - Looks like the telegraph taking over from techcrunch

Paul Smith

Read Pauls open letter to the Telegraph - An open letter to the Telegraphs Milo Yiannopoulos/

Worth having a read of his twitter stream also... some good comments!

- @mattymoran it's great debate if it's informed and well researched. Otherwise it's pointless, damaging and trollish behaviour.
- Nobody claims there aren't challenges @yiannopoulos, but your piece provided no objectivity or researched facts. It was pure link bait.
- @mattymoran ok? Matt, it effectively scrubbed clean the NE of any achievements, including social events. How many attended your last event?
- @mattymoran I'd be more inclined to consider them if named sources had experience of the region, rather than nameless quotes that haven't.

Mark Easby - Director - Better Brand Agency

I would add that in the past 10 years I have been in the industry in the north east things have moved on dramatically. We have seen schemes driven by the public sector such as digital city, IDI, codeworks, and software city gathering momentum and profile on a local, national and international stage helping to slowly turn around perceptions of what's going on in the North East. I admit, and i am sure they will, that they don't always getting it right but it's very much moving in the right direction. We've also seen a buzz from the private sector with groups such as Refresh Teesside, Super Mondays, and Thursday Fizz which again are gathering support and momentum driven by a genuine passion to improve our skills, our individual capabilities and the overall perception of the industry in the sub regions and overall north east.

In addition to this there are also many more initiatives to support private sector and University involvement not only to support graduate start up but also improve the way new businesses/entrepreneurs get support (access to mentoring, finance etc.) to increase the chances of the business idea being sustainable, and encourage them to stay around in the North East to build their business. Organisations such as the Entrepreneurs Forum (which i understand is unique to the north east), and the individuals involved in them, are fully committed and passionate about supporting these business and signposting them to the best advice, mentoring, investment networks and support, and to be honest from what we've seen the results of this have been inspirational.

We speak to a number of people regularly from digital companies in our network including Visualsoft, THAP, Mango, AYO Media, Hedgehog Lab, and OrangeBus and the outlook couldn't be more positive. From both an individual and business point of view, the north east is a great place to do business. As businesses we are developing our teams, our product/service, our client bases and gaining regional and national recognition for this. We are also always learning and sharing to individually and collectively grow within our own niche areas and specialisms. Again, I feel some of this idea sharing and collaboration is part of the unique culture within the north east.

For the recent graduates i feel there is genuinely no better place to be if your in digital, which seems to be backed up by these videos (from Thinking Digital: The Next Generation) - http://www.vimeo.com/3878837 - i watched the Paul Callaghan (Chairman of Leighton Group) speech and it was truly inspirational, i wish i could get hold of the video for this as it was first class when it came to positioning the north east as the place to be for digital start up and support. Again, organisations like the IDI, Codeworks etc are helping with this, but it is also people like Paul (and plenty of others) who are driving this from the private sector and are influencing ONE and the other funding bodies to invest their support (financial or otherwise) in the right places. I am also involved in a codeworks scheme to engage further with the university courses to influence how students at this level are prepared for the digital industry to ensure that are Universities build on their growing reputations and ensure that the graduates coming out are some of the most exciting across the UK, again this is not a quick fix but a long term plan to continue to change perception and reverse the graduate flow out of the north east.

Could go on for ages!....

Tim Johnson - Business Development Manager - Visualsoft UK Ltd.

I can see why this has rubbed a few of you up the wrong way (it was its purpose obviously). I work at Visualsoft (we are a northern based web development company who specialise in ecommerce). At the moment around 70% of the enquiries we get is for website redesign, re-building failed websites or finishing projects that 'agencies' have won but failed to deliver results or complete the project or delivered a sub-standard solution. But you find these bad companies aren't specifically northern companies, they are throughout the UK.

I think the north east is a good place to do business. But in terms of growing as a company you think you need to look outside of the region if you want to be really successful. We have seen both sides of the coin. We have London based clients who love us because our prices are half that of our London based competitors. And we find that London is riddled with 'middle men' agencies who seem to make money for doing very little - just getting between you and a client and charging a fortune for it. We have also lost out on projects due to being in the north, for many of our southern based clients our location isn't an issue - but some do insist of having an agency on their doorstep. I think you'll find that there are fewer companies in the north who make money for doing nothing. In London there are so many 'agencies' who charge a fortune for doing very little. So if you want value for money, then you will struggle to find better than what you'll get in the north east. Also you'll find most of us very straight talking (blunt almost) meaning you can save time and effort beating around the bush - and get straight down to talking bottom line and what is/isn't going to work for your business. You don't get this in the south, they tend to 'talk a good game' and charge you for it.

In terms of successful businesses in the North East region - we have grown in the last 12 years to have an IN-HOUSE team of 32 designers/developers. We are going from strength to strength; consistently winning projects over our competitors in the south. We currently have over 60 sites in development and are forecast to do 300+ medium to large ecommerce sites in the next 12 months. Few companies in our industry (north or south) can boast such a good track record - especially in the current climate. I don't think this success has anything to do with our location; its to do with good business acumen, good staff, good service and as always a little bit of good luck along the way.

Paul Sheperia - Technical Director - Applaud Web Solutions

I've been known to chunter on occasion about this and that. The article in the Telegraph was such as occasion. I was disappointed at the editorial slant but before I jump onto some sort of North vs. South bandwagon and be accused of having chip on my shoulder I thought I'd take a step back and see if there is anything in the argument put forward. Certainly, it's obvious that we're being poked with a sharp stick here with the intention of provoking some debate and raising the authors profile. Well, good luck to him - there's always someone around who'll try to get a leg up on someone else's back. It's not my preferred approach but there we have it. To his merit he possibly identified one area that I do question the value of, and that's a pre-lined up trade mission. Has anyone ever gained anything from this type of thing. I do think there are better ways.

I do applaud (no pun, small 'A') the aims of organisations like Codeworks and that the way to change attitudes about the parochial regions away from the capital is to raise our profile by showcasing how good we can be and the Thinking Digital Conference is a case in point. I was very impressed at the response of Sarat.

Value in business isn't just measure by how much venture capital we can raise. I've sat in front of so called industry experts and investors of all types and I can tell you that there's as many of them that know bugger all about business, as there are people sat with shaking knees on the other side of the table. I've banged on long enough about solid business being about providing a solid dependable service, with good value and innovation. The worth of your business is something else. It depends on your goals but remember that raising large amounts of VC isn't the only way to fund a sustainable business, many directors are happy with organic growth through sales or no growth at all so long as they can pay the bills. I wonder sometimes if the "London view" isn't far narrower than anything done on a regional basis. And whilst we're talking technical/digital companies how many big IT companies can you think of that are from the capital? I can think of loads that aren't. And whilst the next flash in the pan VC funded ".com" boom and bust might just turn into the next Facebook, how many haven't got a hope. So here's to the next small same as the rest business as much as the next bleeding edge idea. You find your niche and do a good job, build good relationships and a reputation, work hard and enjoy it and you might just find some good luck. And think on this final point to hold up a small flag for the North East - how many companies of any size will be using Act!, or Saleslogix for their CRM or Sage Accounts to manage their business. And where are they based?

Vinnie Morgan - Managing Director - Mango Studio

Having established ourselves in the NorthEast, we have experienced and witnessed perfect indication that entrepreneurial flair is flourishing - these individuals are fearless and importantly, are succeeding. The entire team at Mango Studio are proud and privileged to be part of the exciting and committed developments, passion and entrepreneurial spirit that continues to accelerate at rollercoaster speed within the fantastic Northeast.

Read his fully article/reply article on the Mango blog

(Update) Herb Kim - Thinking Digital

Read the full reply found on the Thinking Digital blog - Reply to Telegraph: "it's (still) grim up North"

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Either email me your reply and I will add to this article or please feel free to comment below

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