Community Perspectives
‘Tomahto Tomayto’ – Business Culture in the Bay Area and the UK.
Since arriving in the Bay Area from Edinburgh, Scotland in 2002, I’ve noticed a number of ways that people do business and approach business here differently than back home. Here are three examples of my own experience between the two cultures:
Kissing Frogs…….Networking Works!
When I arrived, I immersed myself in the curious and somewhat scary world of networking events. Unlike the oft-encountered ‘Old Boy network’ events at home, here there is an openness to communicate with strangers. Although the idea of walking into a crowded room, hand outstretched with business card and ‘elevator pitch’ at the ready is alien to most of us from the other side of the pond, the results of perseverance can be fruitful. It also helps that in the Bay Area you don’t have to wear a jacket and tie to be accepted as a credible business person. It’s not the packaging that counts here, but more the contents.
Even if the person you are talking to isn’t interested or in need of your services/product, invariably they’ll know someone who may be, and will actually follow through with an introduction on your behalf. (ah, the old triangulated intro email at work…).
My first couple of years in California were spent soaking up all manner of contacts from other people, but after a while I was able to start giving back and putting other people in contact with respective peers, which is both refreshing and rewarding. People seem keen to meet and discuss a variety of business opportunities (the entrepreneurial spirit at work) and share their contacts, rather than hold them guardedly. I would estimate that approximately 80% of our initial business from start up in the US came from networking events.
Or maybe it’s just my ‘accent’…?
Failure…..End of the Road?
“Better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.” A complete misquote but very valid in the Bay Area so it seems.
This doesn’t mean you can make a foolhardy attempt at a completely flawed business proposition and still be an instant success, but it seems that people respect the entrepreneurial spirit that is infectious around the Bay Area. The idea that you’re prepared to venture out and try something new with a degree of risk is considered positively, and whilst that may not always lead to success, the effort and experience gained is appreciated and noted. My experience in the UK is that anyone who has ‘failed’ in business is treated like an outcast, with the assumption that they were totally to blame for a business failure. Over here, folks who have ‘failed’ are considered as a resource to help others avoid the same consequences – a lesson learned and all that.
The Bay Area and Silicon Valley in particular has been the proving ground for so many technology innovations, some flawed, some brilliant, but there are a number of entrepreneurs that have shared both failure and subsequent success due to the loyal backing of others.
‘Money’ – dirty word? Nope…
In fact, there’s a welcome degree of honesty here about why people are in business, and one of those reasons, as we all know, is to successfully generate wealth to allow us to expand/survive whatever the world throws at us.
In the UK, I often wasted a lot of my time as prospective clients requested I propose a ‘Rolls Royce’ solution but withheld the fact that they only had a ‘Mini’ budget, when far greater benefit could be gained for both parties by putting cards on the table to start with. Over here, my experience is that prospective clients are far more open about their requirements and their budget from the start, thus avoiding the cat-and-mouse game often played back home. Quality and service costs money and there’s a definite appreciation of that here – perhaps time is considered more valuable, and therefore cutting to the chase is the best option.
Payment – and here I’m really going to curse myself. The archaic payment schedules and grudging attitude towards parting with money that I’ve encountered in the UK doesn’t seem to exist here. Since my arrival (so far!) we’ve had no issues with delayed payments, or refusal to honor advance deposits where contractually obligated. In fact, we’ve even had clients pay before the invoice has been raised, as they are very aware of the business ethic that maintains good business relationships, and the need to treat vendors as partners rather than lowly ‘servants’.
So there you have it – my personal take on relative differences that I’ve experienced in a reasonably short time in the Bay Area. I’d be interested in hearing about the experiences of other recent immigrants from the old country.
Andy MacKay is CEO of 20/20 Productions Inc., a corporate communications production company based in San Francisco, and a Director of 20/20 Productions Europe Ltd in Edinburgh. Andy also serves on the Board of the BABC Northern California.
Opinions are totally personal and not those of BABC Northern California.
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