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How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#151

Post by calbear81 »

Detroit fits the bill on the whole lots of old buildings that were once built when the city was rich but then turned poor. You can buy a 6 bedroom placial estate in Indian Village for $350,000 and live next to estates once owned by the Fords and the Dodges, etc.

It's near a world class University (UMich) and has an abundance of office space, mostly owned by Dan Gilbert. The challenge is that it's just not that safe of a place once you venture outside of the protected downtown bubble and public transit is dismal. It's becoming a refuge for artists and free thinkers priced out of Brooklyn, seeking space that still retains it's edginess and grit. The problem is what they're bringing is aimed at the new Detroit urbanites and don't really help solve problems for all of the other normal working class folks in Detroit.

Disclaimer: I live in the Bay but spent a lot of time in Detroit over the last few years when my SO was doing a residency in Clinton Township in the Detroit suburbs. She would vehemently disagree with me on my assessment and sees a frontier spirit emerging there.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#152

Post by eropple »

zanny wrote: post #147
eropple wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you've nailed it with regards to Atlanta--I quite like Atlanta and have a lot of friends there (when DragonCon rolls around I stay an extra 3-4 days on each side of it to hang out with my local friends too), and I'd love to move there except I would almost have to have a car. Dallas is a little different in that its suburbs are fairly dense, but you have to go there, and...car again. And, for me, life is way,…

My aunt and uncle live in Dallas, and I could imagine if I moved there I would just make sure to be near a Dart station. Like others have said, it is fairly comprehensive for a commuter rail line.

Maybe, but Plano, at least, looks like car country to me. I used to live on the end of one of the better commuter rail lines in the country. I still needed a car, and I hated it.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#153

Post by natrius »

L_Rahman wrote: post #132
forrestthewoods wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 hittin…

To everyone proposing places like Nashville and Dallas - do you have any idea what it's like being a not-white person outside of the major coastal cities? It's a miserable experience. You go from seeing a lot of people who look like you in the industry of your choice, to being one of a token few. Food and grocery options go from omnipresent to something you have to hunt down. The way you lead your life goes from some…

Dallas and Houston are very multicultural. Texas is a state of immigrants.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#154

Post by techdragon »

Cshelton wrote: post #134
paulsutter wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dallas misses on a few of pg's key points: it's a sprawling driving city, lack of a top university, and a red state culture. > Pittsburgh is fortunate in being a pre-car city. It's not too spread out. Because those 25 to 29 year olds do not like driving. They prefer walking, or bicycling, or taking public transport... Cities where you can get around without driving are just better period. > Pittsburgh has something P…

I wouldn't associate "red state culture" and a particular city in that state together. Remember, Austin is a city in Texas.... The 4 major cities in Texas in fact are either well mixed or liberal (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio). I hardly move my car on the weekends, get around just fine. My current job I have to commute by car (actually I could ride the train technically...), but many people walk/use public tr…

Length of track is completely unrelated to the quality of the system. It's something you could be proud of for sure... But it's still completely unrelated to the quality of the network.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#156

Post by khuey »

outworlder wrote: post #123

> What does that have to do with startups? Because startups are made of people, and the average age of the people in a typical startup is right in that 25 to 29 bracket. So Paul Graham is now helping to perpetuate the current Silicon Valley ageism. How useful is that data point? That bracket could be the current average of SV's founders, due to forces in action at that region. Another region could have an entirely di…

There are good reasons for startup employees to be young. Front loading risk when you don't have dependents (a spouse and kids, or parents of advanced age) to worry about is a big one. Also when you're young the pay differential between working at a startup and Google is smaller. If you're experienced enough to make Staff Engineer or something the economics of a startup look a lot worse.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#157

Post by Xcelerate »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #29
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #12

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 hittin…

> Northeasterners can and do move to California already. Southerners are much less likely to do so imo

The South is in dire need of at least one giant tech city. I can't be the only person who wants to stay here near family, but the lack of any world-class tech opportunities is extremely frustrating. My girlfriend doesn't understand why I keep wanting to move to the west coast — "Surely you can find a decent job somewhere in the southeast?" Yes, if "a job" is all that I'm looking for, then I can certainly find one. I think she's frustrated with my constant talk about jobs located outside of the South, but I don't really know how to explain the situation to her :/

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#158

Post by thrownaway2424 »

TillE wrote: post #73
ausjke wrote: post #52

I went to Pittsburgh a couple years ago, the downtown is just slightly better than Buffalo, not fully a ghost town but pretty close. Buffalo is worse because someone made the wise decision to move UB out to the suburb, which essentially rendered the already lost town to a ghost city. Put young people into the center of town helped to sustain it, however a city's future is more decided by the overall economy developme…

Buffalo is crippled by truly awful winter weather, especially downtown where the wind from the lake is incredibly strong. You could spend billions renovating the area, turning all the parking lots into something useful, and it would still be a fairly miserable place to live. I've only spent a little time in western PA, but it's definitely better than that.

If Buffalo is crippled by winters, then Pittsburgh is crippled by having the worst air quality in the nation and the least sunlight.

http://www.stateoftheair.org/2015/states/pennsylvania/allegh...

http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/ccd-data/pctposrank.txt

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#159

Post by Apocryphon »

needz wrote: post #33
forrestthewoods wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 hittin…

I think Birmingham fits well in that list. We have a very low cost of living and our downtown is undergoing a huge revival these past few years. Great access to nature too.

Any tech scene, though?

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#160

Post by Apocryphon »

Xcelerate wrote: post #157
forrestthewoods wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 hittin…

> Northeasterners can and do move to California already. Southerners are much less likely to do so imo The South is in dire need of at least one giant tech city. I can't be the only person who wants to stay here near family, but the lack of any world-class tech opportunities is extremely frustrating. My girlfriend doesn't understand why I keep wanting to move to the west coast — "Surely you can find a decent job some…

Isn't Raleigh already a giant tech city? Even though apparently it's mostly located in a vast research park that's more South Bay than SF, and the tech companies are usually giants like RedHat, rather than startups?
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