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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

#231

Post by pesenti »

MicroBerto wrote: post #213
pesenti wrote: post #197

I bootstrapped a company in Pittsburgh in 2000 (the founders all came from CMU - I am from France originally) with a good exit in 2012. When I moved there the food scene was nonexistent and people in the US still perceived Pittsburgh as a bad place to be (e.g., a lady I met in CA responded with "Oh I am so sorry" when I told her I was living in Pittsburgh). CMU also didn't really understand startups - we were the fir…

Why do you need access to so much money that you can't get it in Pittsburgh or remotely? Seems like an insanely cheap place to bootstrap. Get to break even far faster, etc... If you're living in Manhattan now, you could reduce costs by over 75% by moving back and put it into the next venture instead. Plus, the kids get the dog and a yard.

I bootstrapped my startup so I indeed never needed outside money (well rather never really tried given that we started during the 2000-2002 nuclear winter).

But if I had to do it again, especially in the current VC environment, I would raise money. It can be slow and tedious to bootstrap (took us 12 years to grow to 125 people and exit) and a lot of good startups in Pittsburgh seem eternally stuck in the seed stage.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#232

Post by pesenti »

brandonmenc wrote: post #222
pesenti wrote: post #197

I bootstrapped a company in Pittsburgh in 2000 (the founders all came from CMU - I am from France originally) with a good exit in 2012. When I moved there the food scene was nonexistent and people in the US still perceived Pittsburgh as a bad place to be (e.g., a lady I met in CA responded with "Oh I am so sorry" when I told her I was living in Pittsburgh). CMU also didn't really understand startups - we were the fir…

> people in the US still perceived Pittsburgh as a bad place They still do. I'm originally from the area and when I mention this everyone thinks I come from either a Deliverance-like backwoods or a bombed-out Detroit-style factory town. No one takes me seriously when I call it The Paris of Appalachia.

Oh my, never considered Pittsburgh as part of "Appalachia" - I thought that was West Virginia! I guess the US looks at Pittsburgh like Pittsburgh looks at WV...

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#233

Post by rsfern »

Obi_Juan_Kenobi wrote: post #198
robg wrote: post #59

Not sure if the venue, but why is UPitt left out here? CMU is great, but Pitt is also a world class research institution and with a first rate medical school and insurer already investing deeply in startups. http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/10/mental-health-startup-lante...

It's not a bad school by any stretch, but it's not on the same level. Looking at federal grant money (e.g. NSF, reasonable metric for research), U Pitt is at 26 million to CMU's 70 million. Penn is a much closer match at 48 million. Berkeley and Stanford are at 112 and 78 million, for comparison. You can make 'world class' mean whatever you'd like, but I think most would consider Pitt a solid state-level school, wher…

NSF funding isn't really a fair comparison, because Pitt is most well known for its excellent medical research. $4.5 million in NIH funding at CMU vs $79.9 million at Pitt in FY2016...

Plus CMU and Pitt collaborate quite a lot, especially in biomedical research.

[0]: https://report.nih.gov/award/index.cfm

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#234

Post by harshaw »

spudfkc wrote: post #200

As a native Clevelander, I love the idea of the a rust-belt city becoming the next big startup hub. Unfortunately, I can't help but disagree with several points in this article: Low cost of living: Sure, it's low compared to SF, but it is increasing at an alarming rate. Just look at how quickly housing prices have been rising the past few years. Maybe this isn't something to worry about - maybe it's just a sign that…

Those are Hills dude, not mountains :) I am from the Pittsburgh area and the geography is tough for a cycling culture, but mostly because of extremely steep terrain. See Canton Ave.

Pittsburgh has a fantastic cultural scene. Performing arts, visual arts, it's all great and cheap.

I think the Elephant in the room is the weather. The partly cloudy weather pattern is tough for me. I prefer for more consistent sun (which I get in Boston or the West Coast).

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#235

Post by argonaut »

leftnode wrote: post #201
sotojuan wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, what is your definition of a "top university"? Ivy? Great, well-known, research CS university. Think Stanford, Berkeley, etc. In Texas there's UT and to some extent Rice... neither in Dallas.

Yes, there is. UT Dallas is third ranked public school in Texas and a top tier STEM research school. Dallas is perhaps best suited for building a company.

When I think of the top engineering schools in the US: UT Austin is on that list. Dallas isn't. There's a pretty big gap between the two schools.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#236

Post by abalone »

Swizec wrote: post #161
abalone wrote: post #140

I for one "treat the people starting these little restaurants and cafes as your users" in SF and I can tell you, the permitting process is not the biggest problem. It's costs. Commercial rents have skyrocketed. Moreover, residential rents have skyrocketed to the point where few people in the service industry can afford to live in SF at market rates. Even if you can find a space, how are you going to staff it? Who's w…

> for a low wage job with grueling hours? Maybe it shouldn't be such a low wage job, if [good?] talent is in short supply? Just a thought. I for one would be happy to pay higher prices, if it meant we could avoid the whole 20% restaurant subsidy (tips) song and dance. Charge me a fair price and I'll pay you a fair price. There's no need for the whole "And oh yeah, we don't pay our staff enough so you're a bad person…

SF restaurant prices have in fact already gone way up. ("The biggest factor: labor") [1]

It doesn't sound like you're actually offering to pay higher prices. You just want tipping built into the base price. There are restaurants experimenting with this, but it generally doesn't make them more money. [2]

[1] http://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/Why-is-it-so-...

[2] http://sf.eater.com/2015/10/16/9557877/tipping-restaurants-s...

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#237

Post by dj_doh »

Probably too late in the conversation. I'm a Pittsburgh product, as in I did my grad schooling from there. I've always found pgh vibrant! I was residing in the Oakland area. I liked everything about it. To this day I call it one of my favorite places to live or visit.

Circa: 2008-09

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#238

Post by Kinnard »

twakefield wrote: post #187
timr wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. San Francisco no longer has marginal spaces -- every conceivable inch of it has been claimed, developed, and/or bid into the stratosphere. And it has nothing to do with "NIMBYs" or lack of development. It's a tiny, tiny patch of land, all of the build-able portions of which have been speculated upon since the early 20th century. This is important, because while cafes and universities and whatnot are important, y…

When I walk around SF, I see a lot of underdeveloped spaces...abandoned buildings, abandoned gas stations, huge parking lots full of city trucks. Inexplicably, there's been a huge abandoned building on 18th and Mission (seemingly prime location) for I don't know how long. This article about it is from 2012[1]. So, yes, SF is a small space but it is far from being efficiently (or fully) developed and I think the SF Pl…

I agree, there are waaaaaay too many parking lots in SF. If you covered every parking lot in the city with a 4 story multi-use building, what impact would that have?

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#239

Post by jdminhbg »

imissmyjuno wrote: post #224
throwaway3724 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remind me when the good people of Dallas stripped the rights and freedoms of any people, besides banning fracking in 2013? For god's sake, they passed a law prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity/sexual orientation in 2002. That's 10 years before Barack Obama realized that same-sex marriage was a fundamental American right.

I dunno man, I can't say any of this reads as encouraging: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Texas

Ctrl-F "dallas" on that article mostly leads to things like "LGBT Protections: Housing, public accommodations, city employment, private employment, city contractors"

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#240

Post by ghaff »

Kinnard wrote: post #238
twakefield wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I walk around SF, I see a lot of underdeveloped spaces...abandoned buildings, abandoned gas stations, huge parking lots full of city trucks. Inexplicably, there's been a huge abandoned building on 18th and Mission (seemingly prime location) for I don't know how long. This article about it is from 2012[1]. So, yes, SF is a small space but it is far from being efficiently (or fully) developed and I think the SF Pl…

I agree, there are waaaaaay too many parking lots in SF. If you covered every parking lot in the city with a 4 story multi-use building, what impact would that have?

You'd make it impossible for people to come into the city to work and eat? Or even live there?
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