I've long been intrigued by 'micro-nations' as the equivalents of startups for countries: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/02/micronations.html The history of most of them is riven with feuds and financial disasters, but startups have a pretty low success rate too. I'd argue we're living in the equivalent of 'Google' for startup nations here, the US was a radical new idea that worked.

Have you seen Yoram Bauman, the Stand Up Economist? http://www.standupeconomist.com/videos-public/ Not quite as much bling though!

Great tips, thanks. On the deliverability front, I'm a massive fan of http://sendgrid.com. They automate the checklist you run through, with plans starting at $10 a month. I'm a bit biased because they're fellow Techstars, but I've also been an active user for the last six months, and I'm very happy with the results.

You're not missing anything, that sort of ironic sneering is the lazy man's substitute for wit, and sadly it's very acceptable in Britain. It makes it very tough to be openly passionate about getting crazy ideas off the ground, and it's the main reason I'm a lot more comfortable here in the US. I did a post talking about this kind of negativity: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2009/07/you-cant-fail-if-you-dont-try-or-why-i-left-the-uk.html There are some good people in the UK fighting to change attitudes, but it's an uphill struggle against the culture.