How to build a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley • Hacker News Board

Re: How to build a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley

#11

Post by corp » Tue, Jan 11, 2011, 4:08 PM UTC

lincolnpark wrote: post #6

You can start a tech company anywwhere outside Silicon Valley. The problem is its harder to scale a fast growing company.

Agree. And the articles refers to other emerging tech entrpreneurship hubs (secondary markets) that make it possible to start a company and take advantage of the established ecosystems.

If you are not in a city where such ecosystem exists, you could probably start building a prototype there but as soon as you need to scale up (financially, hiring, or other) you will probably need to start networking or moving a city that has one.

Re: How to build a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley

#12

Post by iamdave » Tue, Jan 11, 2011, 4:33 PM UTC

bhousel wrote: post #9

Offtopic, but I hate this trend of articles titled 'How to..." where the article don't actually tell you how to do anything. It seems like there have been a lot of these articles lately. Is it an SEO thing? Another noiseword title I've learned to avoid is, "What we learned from..."

I like your phrase 'noiseword', as it sums up a lot of the internet in the last few months. Sites like eHow and other content farms are destroying search IMO by constantly producing homogenized 'how to' articles with no real content.

Sort of like filling up on bread. It very well may be an SEO thing.

Re: How to build a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley

#13

Post by pchristensen » Tue, Jan 11, 2011, 4:59 PM UTC

lincolnpark wrote: post #6

You can start a tech company anywwhere outside Silicon Valley. The problem is its harder to scale a fast growing company.

Yes. Mark Suster has said that you can grow to ~100-200 engineers in LA but it would be hard to go much beyond that. Groupon can hire all the writers and salespeople they need in Chicago but they opened a development office in Palo Alto to get access to a bigger developer pool.

Re: How to build a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley

#14

Post by acconrad » Tue, Jan 11, 2011, 5:16 PM UTC

jasonfried wrote: post #10

How do you build a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley? You start one. Just like any other business.

I was going to say "with a computer" but you pretty much drove the point home.

Re: How to build a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley

#15

Post by known » Tue, Jan 11, 2011, 6:02 PM UTC

I'd suggest you to check social/economic/cultural aspects outside Silicon Valley and then plunge.