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How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

paulgraham.com

21–30 of 367 posts

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#21
post #8
post #5

It's as if he's never spoken to a Carnegie Mellon grad as to why they get the hell out of Pittsburgh after graduation...

Out of curiosity, why do CMU grads leave?

Weather...mostly, at least for me

CMU and Pittsburgh are great, but for college. I cant imagine ever moving back.. and I'm from jersey originally.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#22

Im convinced that the next valley will happen in the place that can attract the most unmarried people ages 18 through 30. What do these people care about? - night life - high density urban living - progressive local governments and freedom (drug and marriage decriminalization). - good public transportation - access to high speed internet - good universities As they grow older and get married, affordable and high spee…

you're so right! it's all about the drugs!

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#23
post #16

Somewhat unrelated, but a lot of people complain about Boston being too expensive, like SF or NYC, but honestly you can live downtown inexpensively if you live in Chinatown, or within subway distance if you live in Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, or Roxbury, which become cheaper (and less safe) in that order. You don't need to live in Cambridge / Somerville / Back Bay / Seaport. If you are seriously considering moving to…

Living near Davis/Porter/Harvard/Central is pretty damn awesome, to be fair. I wouldn't live downtown even if it was cheaper.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#25

Im convinced that the next valley will happen in the place that can attract the most unmarried people ages 18 through 30. What do these people care about? - night life - high density urban living - progressive local governments and freedom (drug and marriage decriminalization). - good public transportation - access to high speed internet - good universities As they grow older and get married, affordable and high spee…

you're so right! it's all about the drugs!

I've never used drugs, but am definitely more likely to move somewhere that has progressive drug policy, if for no other reason than that it suggests a reality-based approach to governance.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#26
post #8
post #5

It's as if he's never spoken to a Carnegie Mellon grad as to why they get the hell out of Pittsburgh after graduation...

Out of curiosity, why do CMU grads leave?

In my experience, there's some world class tech in the city, but in terms of numbers mid-level more accesible employment is easier found elsewhere.

Also the weather, landscape, and a road system designed to match a 4 year old's hot-wheels track are a real love it or leave it kinda thing.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#27
post #16

Somewhat unrelated, but a lot of people complain about Boston being too expensive, like SF or NYC, but honestly you can live downtown inexpensively if you live in Chinatown, or within subway distance if you live in Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, or Roxbury, which become cheaper (and less safe) in that order. You don't need to live in Cambridge / Somerville / Back Bay / Seaport. If you are seriously considering moving to…

Living near Davis/Porter/Harvard/Central is pretty damn awesome, to be fair. I wouldn't live downtown even if it was cheaper.

>I wouldn't live downtown even if it was cheaper.

...which it may be soon! In fact, for office space, it already is!

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#28
Money quote: "I've seen how powerful it is for a city to have those people. Five years ago they shifted the center of gravity of Silicon Valley from the peninsula to San Francisco. Google and Facebook are on the peninsula, but the next generation of big winners are all in SF. The reason the center of gravity shifted was the talent war, for programmers especially. Most 25 to 29 year olds want to live in the city, not down in the boring suburbs. So whether they like it or not, founders know they have to be in the city. I know multiple founders who would have preferred to live down in the Valley proper, but who made themselves move to SF because they knew otherwise they'd lose the talent war."

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#29

Im convinced that the next valley will happen in the place that can attract the most unmarried people ages 18 through 30. What do these people care about? - night life - high density urban living - progressive local governments and freedom (drug and marriage decriminalization). - good public transportation - access to high speed internet - good universities As they grow older and get married, affordable and high spee…

What if you didn't have to attract the "most" 18 to 30 year olds? What if what you really needed was to attract an underserved niche of 18 to 30 year olds?

I think Atlanta or Nashville is ripe. Northeasterners can and do move to California already. Southerners are much less likely to do so imo. The rural market is grossly underserved right now. Almost none of the efforts to get people into computer science are hitting rural communities. I'd very much like to see that change.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#30
post #2

> If an investor community grows up here, it will happen the same way it did in Silicon Valley: slowly and organically. I love this. I'm in Kansas City and find myself constantly cringing at the number of projects that all try to be a silver bullet that will magically transform the startup ecosystem here or in any other midwest city. If you want to make some place a good place for startups, then you have to play the…

It also doesn't hurt to have a huge injection of DoD dollars. That played a big part in how Silicon Valley got its start.
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