Brexit: When will the Screaming Begin for Entrepreneurs?
Why isn’t every business panicking? This is a personal observation and nothing to do with personal views on remain, remoan or exiting.
I’ve been totally surprised by speaking to entrepreneurs and startups in the UK and abroad.
1. I don’t think they will ask Government anything. I was surprised. Then someone explained. Think about it. When there is a budget, do you ask Government or your accountant? So it’s really lawyers Government need to reach out to if they want to keep entrepreneurs prepared. Entrepreneurs as Ronald Reagan famously observed, do not seem comfortable turning to Government.
2. I thought entrepreneurs would say ‘no deal — wtf wtf’. This has not happened. Again, I have had a lot of meetings indeed and the attitude is they think it inconceivable and neither those here or those contemplating have said they see that as an issue. I agree — this does not make sense.
But then I thought. Even if UK was embargoed, like Iran — it would still be a huge market in its own right. So they may also set up in EU, that’s their business but they definitively need to be in the UK because of no deal. Perverse I know, and I have to say not what I expected.
Personally, we are a UK asset manager and I own UK companies exporting fintech. Our UK company has fund domiciled in Luxembourg — and always has. So the only impact for us is we will wait before launching our next fund I think, but if we get a load of money, then we wont wait. That’s our thinking presently. I can ask Government BUT even I don’t. Because we know, it’s a negotiation. No one knows.
Our fintech exports, if they have tariffs and new VAT rules etc, well my accountants will tell me how to do sales. Simple. No worries.
That’s all the honest truth. Probably not what you expected to hear. But this is what I am finding. Sure many want another referendum and want us to stay in EU — in fact all do. But that is irrelevant to what their business planning is. And this is how it is.
Maybe that’s the point. My business has to be anti-fragile. Hell we survived the credit crunch when Lehmans went under. When we thought banks like Barclays will go bust. We learn to be anti-fragile. This does not mean I like storms, but they keep happening like business cycles.
Will we survive. Well have you met an entrepreneur who wakes up and says ‘in a year I’ll be dead’?
And what about non-entrepreneurs? The ethnic minority disabled single mother in Northern Ireland? This article is not about them. That’s another story.
Personal Views.
CEO Investment Fintech | Int’l Best Selling Author — TV Presenter| 24option Partner | Fintech 4 Financial Literacy|
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on August 13, 2018.