Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

ktvu.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 622 posts

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#311

Post by joubert »

ajmurmann wrote: post #296
refurb wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree, but no doubt Detroit felt the same way at one time.

I wonder if Detroit's economy was more fragile because everything built on a handful of enormous corporations. I don't think there was much of a scene of small, innovative companies that didn't depend on the enormous corporations to be in business. Silicon Valley is full of start ups that can be successful on their own. What's really at the heart of SV is the system that makes startups. That's the universities, VCs a…

Some history from Slate's article, "How Did Detroit Become Motor City?"[0] that speak to the points you make:

> everything built on a handful of enormous corporations

"Second, automotive executives in early-20th-century Detroit behaved a lot like Silicon Valley executives today: They regularly switched companies and launched spinoffs and startups. This culture of cross-pollination spread innovative manufacturing and design ideas among the Detroit manufacturers. Distant competitors couldn’t keep up with Motown’s research and development operations and eventually failed or sold themselves to Detroit."

> I don't think there was much of a scene of small, innovative companies that didn't depend on the enormous corporations to be in business

"The people who built the car’s parts eventually learned so much about automotive manufacturing that they went on to launch their own brands. Olds’ subcontractors included the Briscoe brothers, who helped build Buick, and machinist Henry Leland, who created Cadillac and Lincoln. The Dodge brothers also cut their teeth making parts for both Olds and Henry Ford. Ransom Olds, himself, eventually left Olds Motor Works to found the REO car company. A few other executives from Olds founded Chalmers and Hudson. William Durant, the man behind General Motors, was twice forced out of the company, forming Chevrolet and later Durant Motors while he was away. All of these ventures were based in or near Detroit."

[0] https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/02/why-are-all-the-...

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#312

Post by bordercases »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #201
bordercases wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They all moved to the Bay Area didn't they? And they left behind people that didn't. Given that they don't spend much time segregating themselves into Chinatowns and Little Italies one should expect some preference for the culture of the Bay Area to explain the selectivity and staying power, when other locations are just as prosperous (New York, Texas, Boston). An analogy from my own experience: in my youth I was rai…

>They all moved to the Bay Area didn't they? And they left behind people that didn't. No, they didn't. Some moved here by choice, others had no choice but to move where opportunities are, and many were born here as a consequence of their parents being here. The latter point is of particular note. It is not at all uncommon for first-generation Americans to be torn between their parent's ideologies, values, and culture…

My own household is multiethnic and I can tell you that a clash of perspectives and beliefs is not always productive. Rarely did the differences in both sides of my family translate into some kind of enlightened synthesis of values. At worst it fostered tensions over what culture was superior. At best they just naturalized in one direction save the ethnic food. Your mileage may vary by culture: my grandmother and mother didn't get along but the former still was an otaku.

So in the academic sense sure you can say this is a good thing but now you're scapegoating the emotional integrity of families or the people within them for these conflicts. As far as the "diversity of thought" these experiences taught me... I resolve these conflicts by trying to seek concepts that are not tied to any culture or dissolve cultural distinctions, and draw power from that. That's a form of convergence, not divergence. I know some other multiethnic kids that just pick and choose whether they are e.g. German or Chinese when they are either both or neither.

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#313

Post by bronson »

octoberfranklin wrote: post #222
alisonkisk wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The name "Silicon Valley" refers to the fact that the whole region is perforated with Superfund sites. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfund

yeah because you know silicon is so very toxic

The semiconductor industry, which is where the name came from, sure was. Scroll to Santa Clara: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites_in_Cal...

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#314

Post by momokoko »

fortran77 wrote: post #269
pb7 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any evidence that the people moving are responsible for the bad policies? Something tells me the NIMBYs that bought their homes decades ago and pay $3.50 in annual property taxes aren't going anywhere.

I bought my Sunnyvale CA house in 1991. I pay $6,000 in property tax. The tax goes up 2%/year. I do not pay $3.50 in taxes. You are, quite frankly, a liar. The median property tax paid by homeowners in NY State -- a state with no "Prop 13" is $5,865 (according to facts I just googled). What, exactly, am I getting away with? How will increasing property taxes in a state with the highest income and sales tax solve the…

You just described the real issue with prop 13. Partially occupied and investment properties by individuals.

The insanely low real estate tax increases over time make California real estate investments more appealing to small scale investors. Especially overseas.

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#315

Post by skinnymuch »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #208
dkobran wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some folks in my network are ex-Oracle and my understanding is that the company is run by the CFO and a huge group of MBAs. Any company where the bean counters are at the helm are optimizing for things like quarterly earnings, tax savings like you said, etc. This is the stage where they milk whatever they can out of a dying cash cow. There’s nothing interesting to me about this flavor of capitalism and I don’t think…

Growth at geriatric tech companies like IBM, HP, Oracle, etc. is largely inorganic, driven by well-negotiated acquisitions of smaller B2B software companies. It takes MBAs to do this sort of work, and while it isn't for me, I don't think it's the worst business model out there.

Why does it take an MBA to do that work?

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#316

Post by Supermancho »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #256
atonse wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before Amazon took the crown of using technology for ruthless efficiency, Walmart was king. I remember reading articles 10-15 years ago about how the minute someone scanned an item at the cash register, Walmart's inventory systems, which knew what product was on what shelf and in what quantity, would automatically order refills from the supplier. They have always been highly innovative and tech savvy when it comes to…

>the minute someone scanned an item at the cash register, Walmart's inventory systems, which knew what product was on what shelf and in what quantity I wish this were the case, but anyone thats tried to do online grocery shopping at walmart knows that a lot of stuff shows out of stock, but is actually there in real life.

The online ordering is not tied into the realtime supplychain. The inventory mgmt that walmart developed is now ubiquitous among the largest retailers. Walmart is mow on or behind the innovation curve.

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#317

Post by gedy »

jeffbee wrote: post #285
gedy wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prop 13 is one of the few reasons many could consider staying in California, vs having to pay property taxes on the bubble prices here. Property taxes do go up at what amounts to reasonable inflation numbers.

Prop 13 caused the bubble in the first place.

No, Prop 13 was in response to people being "taxed out of their homes" . Inflation, low interest rates, and turning homes into an "investment" did more to make the bubble.

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#318

Post by pembrook »

ajmurmann wrote: post #296
refurb wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree, but no doubt Detroit felt the same way at one time.

I wonder if Detroit's economy was more fragile because everything built on a handful of enormous corporations. I don't think there was much of a scene of small, innovative companies that didn't depend on the enormous corporations to be in business. Silicon Valley is full of start ups that can be successful on their own. What's really at the heart of SV is the system that makes startups. That's the universities, VCs a…

There were thousands of automotive upstarts prior to the consolidation into GM, Ford and Chrysler, here's just a list of the notable ones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_man...

This doesn't even include the thousands of automotive supplier upstarts in every part of the supply chain from bolts to tires to tooling.

Similar to Silicon Valley, Detroit was also globally dominant in automotive production prior to 1929 (with 90% of production centered there).

Germany and Japan didn't get seriously into the automotive game until the post-WWII era. And China not until the 2000s. But when they did, they become competitive quite quickly.

You're naive if you don't think the same thing will happen with internet companies. Today the US only represents under 15% of automotive production globally.

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#319

Post by gk1 »

xienze wrote: post #264
dkobran wrote: post #16

HP and Oracle don’t exactly represent the heart of Silicon Valley today and what makes it special/unique. I actually think zombie corporations like Oracle, companies that haven’t innovated in decades and instead rely on an army of sales people to sell legacy software, are somewhat the antithesis of Silicon Valley which is really about real technological innovation and disruption at it’s core. I know there are lots of…

A tech company, leaving the Bay Area? Don’t make me laugh! Tesla’s leaving? Good riddance to Musk. HP and Oracle are leaving? Good riddance to zombie tech companies! Uber is leaving? Well they’re slave drivers anyway, good riddance. ...

The sarcasm seems lost on people.

Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

#320

Post by abfan1127 »

dkobran wrote: post #79
Hypx wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. They're companies trying to avoid taxes or regulation. Only companies on the downslide really consider that as an relevant option.

Some folks in my network are ex-Oracle and my understanding is that the company is run by the CFO and a huge group of MBAs. Any company where the bean counters are at the helm are optimizing for things like quarterly earnings, tax savings like you said, etc. This is the stage where they milk whatever they can out of a dying cash cow. There’s nothing interesting to me about this flavor of capitalism and I don’t think…

I've seen a lot of tech companies with CFOs as leaders and you're 100% right. They have a certain set of tools and fix those types of problems, which usually aren't the ways to lead tech companies. I think every company should be lead by a person who has a strong background in the company's main role. I have seen finance background CEOs get replaced and the Company began to thrive again. Its not a bad investing idea!
Post reply on HN