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Ask HN: Which Small U.S City Is Best Suited For Bootstrapping A Startup?

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Re: Ask HN: Which Small U.S City Is Best Suited For Bootstrapping A Startup?

#4

Post by israelyc »

Probably Detroit or its peripheral cities (there are some nice ones, Birmingham, Royal Oak and more). Dan Gilbert (Quicken Loans) is trying to revive downtown and investing in new startups. Also it's only 45min away from Ann Arbor which is an awesome city.

You can rent an apartment for the cost of monthly parking in SF :)

Re: Ask HN: Which Small U.S City Is Best Suited For Bootstrapping A Startup?

#5

Post by npguy »

israelyc wrote: post #4

Probably Detroit or its peripheral cities (there are some nice ones, Birmingham, Royal Oak and more). Dan Gilbert (Quicken Loans) is trying to revive downtown and investing in new startups. Also it's only 45min away from Ann Arbor which is an awesome city. You can rent an apartment for the cost of monthly parking in SF :)

Thanks for the data point. Are these neighborhoods good school districts as well?

Re: Ask HN: Which Small U.S City Is Best Suited For Bootstrapping A Startup?

#6

Post by smartwater »

npguy wrote: post #5
israelyc wrote: post #4

Probably Detroit or its peripheral cities (there are some nice ones, Birmingham, Royal Oak and more). Dan Gilbert (Quicken Loans) is trying to revive downtown and investing in new startups. Also it's only 45min away from Ann Arbor which is an awesome city. You can rent an apartment for the cost of monthly parking in SF :)

Thanks for the data point. Are these neighborhoods good school districts as well?

You have a 1 in 43 chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Detroit: http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/mi/detroit/crime/

I recommend Boston.

Re: Ask HN: Which Small U.S City Is Best Suited For Bootstrapping A Startup?

#7

Post by johnrgrace »

Some business plans will benifit a lot from being in a specific location; however if you currently live in a city with friends, family, and maybe a SO with a job starting right where you are until at least you hit MVP isn't a bad idea.

I'm personallly biased towards lower cost areas, the same funding slug buys you more runway. Being in michigan I'd say Detroit ISN'T on my top list of cities to start in, I find Ann Arbor to be more expensive but offers better quality of life and is right next to a major univeristy. Grand Rapids is cheaper, and has StartGarden.com that is trying to build a whole ecosystem.

Re: Ask HN: Which Small U.S City Is Best Suited For Bootstrapping A Startup?

#8

Post by israelyc »

smartwater wrote: post #6
npguy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the data point. Are these neighborhoods good school districts as well?

You have a 1 in 43 chance of becoming a victim of a crime in Detroit: http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/mi/detroit/crime/ I recommend Boston.

Thats Detroit proper (do not move to downtown Detroit or Flint :) but the cities around Detroit are good, and I don't know much about the schools there but it's worth looking into.

Oakland County has some of the richest cities in the US (a lot of old money) so you can easily find a nice city around Detroit that will be cheap and still very protected.

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