Silicon Valley Startup Hubs

Take into account the large start-up culture employers - Google, Apple, FB, Yahoo to name a few. And Standford as a thinktank. Funding bank: VCs and angels. These are hubs where talent revolve around and from which money flows. In the absence of established hubs, thinktanks, and VC pool, there will be little neck-neck competition with SV/SF. Which is to say it is better to have diverse startup cultures in the US, some small, some monoliths, each different and unique.

I've lived in 6 cities in the US: Minneapolis, Chicago, Providece, Los Angeles, Fresno and now SV. I've also spent significant time in Dallas, New Orleans and Toledo.For me the issue is culture.Chicago, there is a high tech community, but it is generally focused on helping the other industries in the area function. Chicago also tends to be kind of a jock driven town, and tends to scares geeks underground IMHO.Providence, because of RISD and Johnson and Wales tends to be an arts/food

One very simple answer is VC money. They want you local and their talent network (of people for your growing startup) is local. Who knows how different Boston would be if Facebook stayed there? (Just one small example)

It's a different mindset. In Silicon Valley money and people chase every hot startup. In most other cities, it's hard to get one or the other.

There's a reason that YC is based in Boston and the Valley. The culture of risk, entrepreneurial spirit, invetment and technology in the Valley is like no other place I've ever lived, and that includes 6 states and 3 countries. Not that it's a utopia. It's not. But, if you're going to found a startup, it's the place to be.I moved here two years ago, and I'm working as a nurse while I finish my CS degree. My goal is to be a serial entrepreneur when I'm done, and I've been setting up my li

It's a little unfair to blame startups, they largely just set up shop where the capital is. Most VCs required startups to be headquartered near by for easier management/communication. The tech scene in SV had such exceptionalism that it quite literally viewed any startup not in SV as an inevitable failure. Even YC mandated startups be in SV.

Do you believe that all locations are equivalent for starting startups? implying YC randomly happens to be in Mtn View, CA?

I went to Stanford, but picked Atlanta as the place for my startup. All the cons are true--less capital, difficult to find rockstar talent (particularly technical talent), but so are the pros (cheap, healthier business environment, etc). For me, I'm trying to build a values-based organization, and I think it'd be tough (or impossible) to do so effectively in the Bay Area.

The best way to cut success probability of your startup in to half is by basing it in SV. Startups don’t have truckload money to pay for COL in SV. They can’t attract talent other than big shots who are already multi-millionaires (and likely won’t code). People from other place would not move to join them because base salary won’t even pay for their rent (and stock options stays paper money for long time). It’s utterly foolish to base your startup in SV. Come here for hiring but keep your base o

Hasn't anyone noticed that Silicon Valley has lost its position as THE place to start a business. There are startup clusters all over the place now, and not just in the USA but in Germany and Moscow and many other countries.The only thing left that SV has a lock on is some very big VC funds and some part of the buzz around startups. But successful companies are now found in Austin, Vancouver and so on. Perhaps part of the reason is that there is greater diversity in those cities.