> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://onemanandhisblog.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Follow-up on the Brighton tech company quitting the UK
- URL: https://onemanandhisblog.com/2015/05/follow-up-on-the-brighton-tech-company-quitting-the-uk/
- Published: 2015-05-15T14:37:05.000Z
- Updated: 2015-05-15T14:42:35.000Z
- Author: Adam Tinworth
- Tags: aral balkan, crowd funding, ind.ie, Politics

![Aral balkan](https://i0.wp.com/www.onemanandhisblog.com/content/images/2015/05/aral-balkan.jpg?resize=800%2C532 "aral-balkan.jpg")

A little follow-up on the idea that [a Brighton-based tech company](http://www.onemanandhisblog.com/archives/2015/05/why-one-tech-company-is-quitting-the-uk-post-election.html?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) is quitting the UK, because of the current government’s proposals. An unusual number of people got in contact to suggest that calling [ind.ie](https://ind.ie/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) a tech company was a little premature.

The organisation, led by Aral Balkan, best known currently as [a compelling speaker on privacy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh8supIUj6c&ref=onemanandhisblog.com) on the tech conference circuit, [raised over $100,000 late last year](https://ind.ie/fund?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) to launch everything from a social network to a mobile phone. It has yet to ship the promised pre-alpha to the backers, and one in particular has found the announcement of the overseas move [to be enough](http://www.hiddentao.com/archives/2015/05/15/why-i-am-asking-for-a-refund-from-the-ind-ie-project/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com):

> I could wait. Maybe Heartbeat will really be awesome and the wait will have been worth it. But how can they possibly get a phone ready before 2017 with their small team? Especially if they plan to design and build the hardware and operating system from scratch? And if they want to get a bigger team they’ll need to fund-raise again, which means less time for development. I don’t think it’s going to happen. And I don’t want to wait to find out what will happen.

(It’s worth noting that the move has been explained on Aral’s personal site, but not on [the ind.ie blog](https://ind.ie/blog/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com)).

For the outside, this looks like a mix of unrealistic deadline promises from ind.ie, given their very small team, with matching unrealistic optimism from the backers.

Aral has responded quickly:

> [@adders](https://twitter.com/adders?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) [@hiddentao](https://twitter.com/hiddentao?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) Will update the pre-alpha list this week.
> 
> — Aral Balkan (@aral) [May 15, 2015](https://twitter.com/aral/status/599220209921175553?ref=onemanandhisblog.com)