Eveyone Will Want To Help - This Is Not Advice #4

👋 Hello friends,

Nobody will want to help!

MYTH BUSTED.

Before I started this journey, I heard the same thing repeatedly:

"The difference between starting a business in the UK and the US is that in the UK nobody wants or offers to help, but in the US everyone wants to help."

This was presented as gospel truth. The story goes that American entrepreneurs operate in a culture of abundance and mutual support, while UK founders face a chilly, reserved environment where asking for help is seen as weakness and offering it isn't part of the culture.

This is categorically not what I've found.

People I barely know have offered introductions and feedback. Former colleagues have checked in, offering moral support. Friends have forgiven me when I've cancelled on plans to work.

The myth of the unsupportive UK ecosystem seems designed to justify inaction. It's easier to blame a "cold culture" than to admit we haven't reached out and haven't been specific in our asks.

What I'm learning is that help is available everywhere, but it rarely comes without being requested clearly and specifically. And that's true whether you're in London, Silicon Valley or sat behind a desk in your parents conservatory (like I am).

Another Myth Worth Busting

The more I speak with fellow founders and investors, the more I realize how many preconceptions we all had about starting businesses in the UK. Here's another myth I've been working to unlearn:

"It's Expensive to Start a Business"

A common refrain is that launching a business requires significant capital upfront, with prohibitive costs for registration, compliance, and operations.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

You can register a limited company online for just £12 through Companies House and be up and running in less than 24 hours.

Accountancy services are also much more affordable than I initially feared. With many accountants offering start up-friendly deals for the first year. Using cloud accounting software like Xero (from £12/month) can reduce these costs even further.

Creating an MVP website no longer requires a professional developer. Services like Lovable offer a free 7-day trial, then start at just £18/month for a hosted website. Hostinger's business plans begin at only £3.99/month!

ChatGPT Plus has become my co-founder, assistant, and researcher all rolled into one for just £20 a month. It helps me draft emails, research competitors, brainstorm ideas, and even create simple design elements, tasks that would have required multiple freelancers or employees in the past.

Don't get me wrong, I'm spending more money than I used to, but I built it up in my head as this enormous blocker. It just isn't that anymore.

What Does This Mean on a Macro Level?

Let's narrow in on software businesses as an example. Vibe coding tools (software that writes code from your natural language input), such as Lovable, Bolt, Replit, etc, are getting so good that eventually everyone will be able to code and build software at a tiny price.

Software businesses will be incredibly fast and cheap to build, reducing the need for outside growth or start-up capital.

So surely this will increase the amount of software start-ups we see as the barrier to entry disappears.

What next?

I think the new barrier to entry will be market and customer recognition and acquisition. As a start-up how do you stand out in a sea of similar products?

This is the problem we are trying to solve. I think the answer is creators as co-founders and/or investors.

When everyone can build a product, the differentiator becomes who can tell its story and get it in front of the right audience. The future I see is one where technical founders partner with creators from day one, not just for marketing after the product is built, but for deep product input, audience understanding, and distribution strategy. The creator brings their audience insight and distribution channel; the technical founder brings their ability to build rapidly with these new tools.

This is fundamentally different from the traditional "influencer marketing" model. It's about creators having skin in the game as actual co-founders or meaningful equity holders, bringing their audience development skills to the core of the business rather than being tacked on as a promotional channel.

📚 What I'm Reading