11–20 of 53 posts
I feel like they're riffing about an imagined startup culture that died out in 2001.
i.e. I think this story was told at LeWeb.
Seesmic founder lets Friendfeed guys know that their products would work really well together. The Friendfeed guys call back and tell him to drop by to discuss it. Loic hops into his car, drives 10 minutes to the Friendfeed offices, and after an hour or so of meetings, Friendfeed adds Seesmic to their site.
Outside of the valley, something like this isn't possible. The spirit of startups lets companies be a lot more relaxed and open to new possibilities.
It's one reason to go to the valley, but not the only one. When I moved to the valley last year, everyone asked me why? I said "People". Those people could be new friends at other startups, future talent for my company, future informal advisors, potential investors, or an awesome bartender at the Olde Pro in Palo Alto. The Valley exposed me to people that I couldn't have met anywhere else. If you love technology and…
Agree about the other benefits in addition to access to VCs, but it's still arguable if they're worth the higher cost of living. If you're a bootstrapped startup, you'll hit ramen profitability much sooner elsewhere. When you have an infinite runway, you'll have infinite time to find people as well :).
Your probability of success is higher in the Valley. Doesn't mean you can't be successful elsewhere. I don't understand why people can't reconcile these two statements. If you like your lifestyle where you are, by all means, stay. If you can find investors, lawyers, and accountants (assuming you want them) that you trust, stay where you are. But if you're just a couple of crazy kids with a work ethic and an idea to c…
Your probability of success is higher in the Valley Your probability of flipping heads is higher than your probability of rolling 1 on a six-sided die: X = .5, Y =~ .167. I have yet to even hear of a good setup for measuring X or Y, to say nothing of actual numbers for them, for measuring "probability of success in a startup". Heck, I have never even heard a defensible universalizable definition of success for a star…
I suppose "chances for success" wouldn't have set you off, and I acknowledge that. But we're at the point where we mock people for using "beg the question" incorrectly and ignore the substance of the argument, which isn't really productive for others reading this thread.
Your probability of success is higher in the Valley. Doesn't mean you can't be successful elsewhere. I don't understand why people can't reconcile these two statements. If you like your lifestyle where you are, by all means, stay. If you can find investors, lawyers, and accountants (assuming you want them) that you trust, stay where you are. But if you're just a couple of crazy kids with a work ethic and an idea to c…
Your probability of success is higher in the Valley Your probability of flipping heads is higher than your probability of rolling 1 on a six-sided die: X = .5, Y =~ .167. I have yet to even hear of a good setup for measuring X or Y, to say nothing of actual numbers for them, for measuring "probability of success in a startup". Heck, I have never even heard a defensible universalizable definition of success for a star…
You don't have to have a random sample to estimate a probability. In the Bayesian interpretation, you can have a reasonable prior that you update as you collect more data. For example, a meteorologist can look at the clouds and "guesstimate" that there's a 50% chance of rain tomorrow. A frequentist would object and say that you can't take lots of random samples of tomorrow to estimate that probability. The Bayesian is willing to take the meteorologist's guess as a prior, and update it as & when more data becomes available. In this case, I think Sachin's statement is reasonable in the absence of any real data.
Is it surprising in any way that a bunch of people not from the valley say that being in the valley isn't important?
Your probability of success is higher in the Valley. Doesn't mean you can't be successful elsewhere. I don't understand why people can't reconcile these two statements. If you like your lifestyle where you are, by all means, stay. If you can find investors, lawyers, and accountants (assuming you want them) that you trust, stay where you are. But if you're just a couple of crazy kids with a work ethic and an idea to c…
Your probability of success is higher in the Valley Your probability of flipping heads is higher than your probability of rolling 1 on a six-sided die: X = .5, Y =~ .167. I have yet to even hear of a good setup for measuring X or Y, to say nothing of actual numbers for them, for measuring "probability of success in a startup". Heck, I have never even heard a defensible universalizable definition of success for a star…
I disagree. Have you taken a look at the culture in the valley? They are all about helping each other. i.e. I think this story was told at LeWeb. Seesmic founder lets Friendfeed guys know that their products would work really well together. The Friendfeed guys call back and tell him to drop by to discuss it. Loic hops into his car, drives 10 minutes to the Friendfeed offices, and after an hour or so of meetings, Frie…
The big advantage of living outside the valley is that you're closer to real customers - people who don't live and breathe technology 24/7. That can help you or hurt you, depending on your target market. Could something like MySpace, AOL or PlentyOfFish have started inside the Valley, considering that they succeeded by catering to idiots?
It's one reason to go to the valley, but not the only one. When I moved to the valley last year, everyone asked me why? I said "People". Those people could be new friends at other startups, future talent for my company, future informal advisors, potential investors, or an awesome bartender at the Olde Pro in Palo Alto. The Valley exposed me to people that I couldn't have met anywhere else. If you love technology and…
Agree about the other benefits in addition to access to VCs, but it's still arguable if they're worth the higher cost of living. If you're a bootstrapped startup, you'll hit ramen profitability much sooner elsewhere. When you have an infinite runway, you'll have infinite time to find people as well :).
We gave groups the same amount of money in Boston cycles as in Bay Area cycles, and we never noticed any difference in how long it lasted.