In an increasingly competitive world, global startup clusters are looking to attract talent and investment through the use of branding and naming.
There’s Silicon Roundabout (east London), Silicon Alley (New York), Silicon Lagoon (Lagos, Nigeria), and Silicon Peninsula (Danan, China). But the South Wales cluster is signalling its intention to not be so bloody unimaginative, and to take inspiration from an altogether different source….
A boat.
Which is why the South Wales tech cluster is today announcing a bold new name:
Spearheaded by Cardiff Start, a passionate group of tech startup entrepreneurs who created the community in order to offer peer-to-peer support at a time when there was little relevant tech startup support available, say this new name will take effect from 1st April 2017.
Speaking about the controversial decision, Cardiff Start’s cofounder, Robert Lo Bue, MD of Applingua, said:
“One of the members of our Facebook group, Colin Batten, suggested it, and we thought it was a fantastic idea. Especially as the #NameOurShip campaign that led to Boaty McBoatface was conceived and managed by Cardiff ideas agency, Blue Stag.”
Fellow Cardiff Start co-founder, and CEO of Ramptshirts.com, Neil Cocker continues:
“Cardiff is Europe’s fastest growing capital city. We’ve got the finest quality of life in the UK, access to a young, educated, smart workforce, we have loads of great proptech and fintech startups raising seed rounds and growing at a fantastic rate. And now we have a name and brand that will make the world sit up and notice. And it worked for boat, right?”
Founder of Welsh ICE and online platform Boma Camp, Gareth Jones, has already started making plans:
“This is a hugely exciting development for Cardiff and will project a strong identity that really reflects us as a city. The introduction of Techy McTechface will result in more jobs, more Macbooks and more biscuits for all. Plus, I’ve taken out the trademark on “Scalable SaaS” and #engagement so I’m quids in.”
– Gar£th
ICE member and founder of SEO consultancy Morgan Online Marketing, Steve Morgan can already see the benefits:
“I tweeted just the other day saying that the Cardiff/South Wales tech scene is sometimes not taken as seriously as other (often bigger) UK cities, such as London, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester. But with the introduction of Techy McTechface, we will be taken more seriously…!”
Welsh ICE alum and local health tech start CEO, Warren Fauvel of Nudjed, added:
“South Wales is ready to claim its rightful place, next to the booming scenes in Bristol, Manchester, and our big smelly cousin London. In my, completely unqualified opinion, startup cluster naming is too serious. It doesn’t reflect us as a community. I challenge anyone to take their git repository out of their bum, come here and not have fun!”
Welsh ICE and our startup community are proud to be a members of Techy McTechface and we’re hopeful that this will really highlight all the great work being done by the startup industry in South Wales and reinforce this as ‘the place to be’ going forward. The potential and opportunities are boundless.
Speak to the hand, Silicon Valley, because the Techy McTechface ain’t listening.
Visit www.techymctechface.co.uk for more information.