How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#291

Post by Hydraulix989 » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 5:56 AM UTC

Xcelerate wrote: post #146

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…

Well, you've described the items on my dream list perfectly, but it's quite the antithesis of my girlfriend's list. Her list includes: - calm, peaceful nights - suburban house with a yard and a dog - a comfortable car and well-kept roads - internet good enough to stream Netflix - quality local universities that offer tuition scholarships Unmarried 18-30 year olds are quite a diverse bunch.

You can get all of these not too far outside of Pittsburgh itself.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#292

Post by dalanmiller » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 5:58 AM UTC

colindean wrote: post #265

There are some big things happening in Pittsburgh: Code & Supply ( http://codeandsupply.co ) is growing very quickly. It is just more than two years old and has nearly 2,200 members of its Meetup group. It holds 6-10 meetups per month, ranging from language talks to toolkits, WiFi, mental health, design, career management, and more. C&S is hosting Abstractions ( http://abstractions.io ), probably the largest ever sof…

Finished grad school at CMU last year. Loved coming to all the C&S meetups I possibly could when I had the time (and enjoyed the exercise hoofing it up to Squirrel Hill from Shadyside). Thank you for organizing such a great community along with Justin Reese.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#293

Post by eropple » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:03 AM UTC

abalashov wrote: post #182

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,…

I lived in downtown-Midtown ATL without a car for several years, and currently reside in Midtown as well. We're a family of five, and drive maybe once a month. It is definitely possible, but you have to be extremely committed, make heavy use of on-demand/gig economy services, and incur considerable expense in structuring your life that way. I made (and make) a point of living near a MARTA station and other compromise…

Yeah, I get you. What you describe makes sense, from talking to friends who live there; only one friend of mine down that way seems to have any luck with that approach, and he lives in Buckhead and a lot of his Uber travel gets comped by his job.

I really like the city, but I think any benefits I'd get from a cheaper area (because Boston is not cheap) would be drowned out by the need for a car or the expenses from not having one. MARTA's pretty nice though.

I pinged you on Twitter, btw.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#294

Post by megablast » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:04 AM UTC

carboncopy wrote: post #251

Kinnard wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forgot, "with at least one level of underground parking" so there's no net loss in parking spaces

That's incredibly expensive to build.

How? You know have a 4 story building that you can sell?

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#295

Post by myblake » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:05 AM UTC

Cshelton wrote: post #80

Dallas: - Highest growth rate in the nation (especially for 18 - 30 years old), after Houston, which is down now due to the oil industry, placing Dallas at #1 - Highest spending on food and alcohol at restaurants - http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/09/dallas-fort-worth-... - One of the most affordable places to live in the U.S. - Large number of top tier universities within 3 hours (Univ of Texas, Baylor, TCU, S…

> Large number of top tier universities within 3 hours I know in Texas driving 3 hours is a moderate commute, but UT is literally in another metro area. If you read the article, PG mentions Stanford and Berkeley not being downtown as a liability compared to CMU and they both have reasonable public transit options to downtown SF.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#296

Post by dalanmiller » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:06 AM UTC

hirsin wrote: post #67

minimaxir wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was referring to Pittsburgh's coin-flip weather. Edited OP for clarity. Yes, it really is that bad .

Pittsburgher who moved to Seattle here - would agree. As bad as Seattle weather is, Pittsburgh hits both extremes (ice and heat) and isn't predictable.

As a Seattite who lived in PGH for a year, I agree with you. I found the winter to be quite difficult.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#297

Post by caseyf7 » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:07 AM UTC

Philly checks these boxes much better than Pittsburgh and doesn't have a tech scene of note. These cities will also need an anchor company to keep the talent there. Maybe autonomous cars can do that in Pittsburgh.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#298

Post by malloryerik » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:27 AM UTC

hawkice wrote: post #204

Surprised no one has mentioned the gravitational effect these hubs have -- Sacramento will never really blossom in the tech industry because so much talent gets sucked into SF. But as plane ticket prices go down, those areas get larger and larger. It's worth saying: "Pittsburgh, this is time sensitive! Boston will eat your lunch by default, so make your moves quickly." Also, if plane trips get cheap enough, look at h…

Could be good, but Hong Kong is massively expensive and mainland China is censored, with slow int'l data connections, presumably because they have to scan for words like "Panama Papers." Goodbye Google, Facebook, real news... well you can have (need) a VPN, but that could also be attacked at any moment. You also kind of end up having to be a member of the Party, and are reliant on fickle gov't approval. Which makes one think that for quite a while China may be only for Chinese. Hong Kong, we'll see.

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#299

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:27 AM UTC

hawkice wrote: post #204

Surprised no one has mentioned the gravitational effect these hubs have -- Sacramento will never really blossom in the tech industry because so much talent gets sucked into SF. But as plane ticket prices go down, those areas get larger and larger. It's worth saying: "Pittsburgh, this is time sensitive! Boston will eat your lunch by default, so make your moves quickly." Also, if plane trips get cheap enough, look at h…

[deleted]

Re: How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub

#300

Post by mahyarm » Wed, Apr 13, 2016, 6:29 AM UTC

timr wrote: post #164

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…

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…

I look at SF and I see the strangest thing. Many new buildings that are built at 4 stories max. A big innovation is to give a whole 2 story density bonus! Wow 2! I know of small towns of 250'000 that build buildings that are 20 stories regularly!

12 SFH homes on a block can be purchased for $30 million, have 400 unit buildings built on them and make far more than that selling it off. Then take the massive increase in property tax revenue and use it to fund an expanded rail system with right of way. But they can't do it effectively because of the law.

Build 250 of those 400 unit buildings and you will have filled the 100'000 unit backlog. 250. You can easily fit them all 0.5 miles from bart and muni tunnel stations. Everyone knows the solution, the planning department and SF NIMBYs don't want to happen, and they fight it hard.

250 high rises wont even make SF approach hong kong or manhattan levels. Not even 1000 of them. SF and it's people has it's head so far up it's ass it's comical.