Columns

There isn't much I remember about living in America as a child - aside from an exaggerated fear of earthquakes and amazement at the concept of melting cheese in a microwave - but one thing that will stay with me is the level of patriotism. Every morning, we'd troop down to the flagpole and sing a song about stars and stripes. And all the nine-year-old children around me would join in with vigour. They believed. They were proud to be American.

After seven months in California, I arrived back in Britain. Except it wasn't really Britain. This was a country that resolutely called itself Scotland. No-one in my school class would describe themselves as British in just the same way that nowadays few people in the UK would describe themselves as European.

Which leads to a bit of a problem when you try and celebrate anything described as British. And perhaps that's why, as a nation, we don't. There hasn't been a street party where I live since 1977: the only event that draws us together these days is the Eurovision Song Contest, so we can all make biting sarcastic comments in unison.

Much as I like this caustic side to our national nature, and can't quite get my head round the unadulterated positivity of many Americans, there's still a huge amount we can learn from their way of doing things.

Luckily, I have a theory: if we could just mix together some of the optimism of our Stateside friends and blend it with British sarcasm, this could become

Those traits are all clear in the Best of British feature published in the current issue of PC Pro (on sale until 13 August), where we profile ten UK companies that have made an impact. From Rockstar Games - the firm behind Grand Theft Auto - to ARM, we have some stunning success stories. It's just that we as a nation like to concentrate on the ones that fail. Even more worryingly, we often deride the ones that succeed.

Take Richard Branson. He's one of the most successful British businessmen around, and can take pride in not only making a lot of money but building a brand - the name Virgin first appeared when he was touting cut-price records in the 1960s. The brand now expands to over 200 companies and Branson himself is estimated to be worth £4.4 billion. Not bad. But read about Branson in the press and you're most likely to see him parodied as a grinning maniac with a balloon-flying obsession.

So where are those success stories going to come from in the future? In an odd coincidence, I found myself visiting one of the featured companies from our Best of British feature this month. VeryPC is a Sheffield-based manufacturer that genuinely celebrates its origins - its systems even bear the Made in Sheffield hallmark. Established in 2004, it's now moved into much larger premises and has its eye on neighbouring units within the industrial park it now calls home.

And the MD of that company is someone who has a similar level of passion to Richard Branson. His obsession is about minimising hot air, though - in the form of green PCs and, perhaps more importantly, green servers. He had an idea and now he's got a growing business on his hands.

So what I'd say to any prospective IT entrepreneurs is simple: do it. Ignore the jibes from friends and colleagues, ignore anyone who spouts negativity and says you're a fool. Unless they can back up their negativity with well-reasoned business arguments, it's they who are the fools.