An entrepreneur whose company operated out of cities like London and New York said Silicon Valley was the best place in the world to start a new business, calling it “an unparalleled place to set up shop.”
In 2016, 33-year-old Amber Atherton launched her startup Zyper in London, where she spent a year raising seed funding and building a customer base.
At the time, Atherton and her colleagues also designed software that helped brands connect with loyal fans.
While the UK was a great place to recruit bright talent, it proved a difficult environment to scale a business “that isn’t fintech or rooted in academia.”
Amber Atherton, 33, said Silicon Valley is the best place in the world to start a new business, calling it “an unparalleled place to set up shop.”
“I really feel at home in California,” Atherton said. “While I’ve loved living in London and NYC, there’s something special about the Bay Area. The Valley is unmatched as a place to focus, build and invest in the future.”
Atherton, who grew up in Hong Kong and England, said the British market was not big enough.
“The VC and funding ecosystem is bigger in the US, especially in Silicon Valley,” she said. Company Insider.
“Plus, there is a large pool of exceptional talent, which accelerates the journey from raising a pre-seed round to hiring the people you need to achieve milestones.”
Atherton also noted that there is a greater appetite for risky ventures in the US.
“There is…a cultural appetite for risk in the US that is not as strong in the UK. The DNA of America is the American dream,” she said, before reiterating the unique charm of Silicon Valley.
“Especially in the Valley, there is a tendency to very quickly support ‘zero-to-one’ ideas and create something completely new,” she explained to Company Insider.
Atherton, who grew up splitting time between Hong Kong and England, said the UK market wasn’t big enough
While the UK was a great place to recruit bright talent, it proved a difficult environment to scale a business “that isn’t fintech or rooted in academia.”
In 2017, Atherton left Zyper after being accepted into Y Combinator, a renowned accelerator program for startup founders.
She settled in Palo Alto with some colleagues from her company and was impressed by “how suburban Palo Alto was.”
The entrepreneur said she found a “supportive and competitive environment” at Y Combinator, with “regular coaching, office hours with partners… and inspiring guest speakers.”
Michael Seibel, the accelerator’s director, urged members to stay in the Bay Area after the program ends, highlighting its “ecosystem and talent.”
Although Atherton took his advice into consideration, she decided in 2018 to move her business to New York because it would be “closer in time zone to the UK.”
“It was hard to go from Palo Alto, a hyper-focused environment, to a 24/7 city with a hundred million things to do,” she admitted. Company Insider.
In 2018, Atherton decided to move her business to New York because it would be “closer in time zone to the UK.”
In New York, the young entrepreneur was confronted with numerous distractions.
“There’s so much stimulation in the city — theater, art, museums. I remember being distracted by the endless opportunities to attend parties and dinners,” she said.
This was a stark contrast to San Francisco, “where everyone is always talking about building companies and it’s easier to meet investors and potential employees.”
Atherton admitted that New York offers a “great source of talented founders and a great ecosystem, particularly in crypto and AI.”
“If you want to focus completely without distractions, you can’t beat the Bay Area,” the young entrepreneur said
She further noted that she knows “founders in New York who don’t mind the pace and the distractions” and that “New York is the best market to invest in after the Bay Area.”
“But if you want to be laser-focused with no distractions, you can’t beat the Bay Area. About a year into New York, I realized we should probably move back,” she said. Company Insider.
In late 2019, just before the pandemic, Zyper closed its offices in New York and London and moved to San Francisco.
“I really feel at home in California,” Atherton said. “While I’ve loved living in London and NYC, there’s something special about the Bay Area. The Valley is unmatched as a place to focus, build and invest in the future.”
Atherton only worries about the area when “politics gets in the way.”
“I think there’s something very special about the ecosystem and the history of Silicon Valley. The greatest software companies were built here,” Atherton said
While she acknowledged that it was smart to have an “independent body regulating AI to protect consumers,” the Zyper founder said that “if politicians over-regulate or over-tax the way AI works, it could slow technological progress.”
In 2020, Zyper was acquired by Discord, where Atherton worked for two years before joining a venture capital firm as a partner.
“I think there’s something really special about the ecosystem and the history of Silicon Valley. The biggest software companies were built here,” she said.
Atherton added: “The next Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley.”