This inspired me:
Looking for a great city to start you startup? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=518379
Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
41–50 of 53 posts
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 :).
Living in the Valley is not especially expensive for founders. Buying a house in the Valley is notoriously expensive, because there is so much speculation built into prices (even now). But renting a two-bedroom apartment in Mountain View is no more expensive for equivalent quality of life than in Boston. We gave groups the same amount of money in Boston cycles as in Bay Area cycles, and we never noticed any differenc…
Seriously you can buy a mansion for $300,000 in Duluth
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=518379
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've got a point, in the sense that a lot of the "probabilities" are just best guesses based on anecdotal evidence. But pragmatically, I don't see much of a choice; it would be paralyzing to try and gather all that data before making a decision. And, in my mind, it's usually better to make that decision on imperfect information- like the aphorism that "Your probability of success is higher in the Valley"- than no i…
I refer to the book: how to measure anything. Measurement is the reduction in uncertainty, not paralysis by analysis. Often you can get great reductions in uncertainty with simple methods if you think for a few minutes. Some examples that the book may help you with could be looking at the governmental statistics for new businesses by geographical location (e.g. if they are better, then this must show in turnover righ…
That looks like it might be a worthwhile book. Thanks for the recommendation.
I'm not "so certain that the probability of success is higher in the valley," but there are two main reasons I think there might be something to it: firstly the fact that people whose opinions I respect are saying it, and secondly the anecdotal-evidence-based but sensible conventional wisdom about meeting more relevant people (whether for funding, employees, advisors, bouncing around ideas, etc.) in the valley.
I haven't noticed as much that "the majority of the people who say this have something to gain, directly or indirectly from this being promoted as fact," but maybe I haven't been paying enough attention. :-)
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#44Silicon valley is unacceptable because Norcal has great white sharks, which scare the pants off me and I can't live by the ocean and not surf :(
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Living in the Valley is not especially expensive for founders. Buying a house in the Valley is notoriously expensive, because there is so much speculation built into prices (even now). But renting a two-bedroom apartment in Mountain View is no more expensive for equivalent quality of life than in Boston. We gave groups the same amount of money in Boston cycles as in Bay Area cycles, and we never noticed any differenc…
Seriously you can buy a mansion for $300,000 in Duluth http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=518379
Yeah, but then you have to live in Duluth
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like staunch mentions, there are cheaper places to live in than either SiV or Boston. Living in Austin-TX would cost half as much for instance. Living in developing countries would cost even less (at least if one doesn't insist on 100% equivalent quality of life). Disclaimer: we're based in the valley and are happy for it, but that's because we're profitable anyway.
I did this. I built the prototype for my first startup in Goa, India, using GPRS internet (unlimited access for a fixed price, because it was a beta). I even recommend it, assuming you can connect with real alpha customers before moving over there, or if you have a bizdev guy stateside. I had to download overnight but it was workable. I spent my days floating in the pool reading books like 'Design Patterns' and Java/…
Do you have any more writing online about your experiences there?
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did this. I built the prototype for my first startup in Goa, India, using GPRS internet (unlimited access for a fixed price, because it was a beta). I even recommend it, assuming you can connect with real alpha customers before moving over there, or if you have a bizdev guy stateside. I had to download overnight but it was workable. I spent my days floating in the pool reading books like 'Design Patterns' and Java/…
Do you have any more writing online about your experiences there?
Not really, no. I wrote a lot about it while I was there actually, in a notebook, but it was stolen on a train. Have any particular questions?
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#48There is not much substance to this article. It doesn't really even build on the title. It's just a bunch of quotes about VC funding and startup culture by a couple bloggers who live in Wisconsin and China. And, a video of a random investor from Texas. I feel like they're riffing about an imagined startup culture that died out in 2001.
Maybe it isn't what you meant but to me you post comes off as... "What would they know. They aren't from the valley"
I really just meant what I posted - there isn't much to the article.
On the other hand, there is some truth to your comment. Aside from the guy who lives in China, there wasn't anything that suggested the authors had even been to California.
There are real disadvantages to living in Silicon Valley, and they didn't mention any of them. Instead, they brought up things like work culture and being showered with VC dollars, which actually aren't the big problems.
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 :).
Living in the Valley is not especially expensive for founders. Buying a house in the Valley is notoriously expensive, because there is so much speculation built into prices (even now). But renting a two-bedroom apartment in Mountain View is no more expensive for equivalent quality of life than in Boston. We gave groups the same amount of money in Boston cycles as in Bay Area cycles, and we never noticed any differenc…
I moved from Pittsburgh, PA to the South Bay last summer. While the cost of living is somewhat higher in the Valley, in my experience it is not as much higher as it is usually made out to be (except for buying a house, as pg mentioned).
* Housing: I'm renting a 4 bedroom / 3 bathroom house in a nice area of Sunnyvale with 2 friends. My share of the rent is about the same as the rent I was paying for a large 1 bedroom apartment in Pittsburgh.
* Food: Restaurant prices seem to be about the same or a little bit higher. Groceries are definitely more expensive. The first time I went to the grocery store, all of the prices seemed 10-20% too high. However, with some careful shopping, you can stock up when items are on sale and not pay much more than I was paying in Pittsburgh. Buying fruits and veggies at a farmer's market also helps keep the cost down and the nutritional value up.
* Car: I drive more often and further now. The Valley is not designed for pedestrians. With the rapid fall of gas prices, this hasn't been a big deal for me, but plan on spending more on gas and maintenance if you don't currently drive much.
* Taxes: California's sales tax is very high. It's going up by another 1% on April 1, to 9.25% (or more, depending on where you live). California also has one of the highest personal income taxes in the country. I'm not happy with this state of affairs, but I think it is worth it to be in the Valley. In the long run, this could really hurt California, though.
In short, it is more expensive for me to live in the Valley than in Pittsburgh, but it's not as bad as I was led to believe. Perhaps this is because I don't have much interest in buying house at this stage in my life. Most of the people who told me the cost of living was "insane" in the Valley were family men who already own a house and were factoring the cost of replacing that house into their calculations. For the rest of us, if you can get by in some other major U.S. city, you can probably get by in the Valley.
Re: Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have any more writing online about your experiences there?
Not really, no. I wrote a lot about it while I was there actually, in a notebook, but it was stolen on a train. Have any particular questions?
Not really, it's not as if I'm planning it myself. Just generally interesting stuff :)