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Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

nytimes.com

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Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#131

Post by afuchs »

nugget wrote: post #51
tarr11 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, can you expand on services business being lifestyle vs product being venture? I had never heard of that distinction before and usually just thought of lifestyle businesses as slower growing vs faster.

Sure, here's an example - a small startup which occupies an attractive niche, definite market need, product-market fit, and decent traction. The founder developed a software platform in response to market need, but the market also told her that there were opportunities to sell extensive services. Now that the software platform is done and there is a small services team in place, the founder can choose to sell either:…

There are plenty of successful service oriented companies.

For example, Uber and Lyft, both sell a service that requires a proportional amount of new contractors and employees, to scale.

Another would be Palantir, which sells services based off of a core software product.

How do you classify companies that are ambitious, but perform work that doesn't scale?

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#132

Post by bennettfeely »

thearn4 wrote: post #2

As a Cleveland native, I look at Pittsburgh somewhat jealously as a city that is achieving what Cleveland has been slow to do over the last 30 years: find a post-industrial midwestern identity.

There's no need to spell it out, we know Cleveland Browns fans look at Pittsburgh jealously.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#133

Post by blackguardx »

nostrademons wrote: post #96
blackguardx wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bay Area turns green and brown every year. It has nothing to do with droughts. In the winter, the grass on the hills is green. In the summer, it is brown or "golden." That color is what the phrase "Golden Hills of California" is referring to.

Rule of thumb is that the Santa Cruz mountains are green and the East Bay Hills are brown. When I moved to the Bay Area, I was taught that this is how you orient yourself: if green is on your left and brown on your right, you're going north; if green is on your right and brown on your left, you're going south; if you're driving toward brown, you're going east; and if you're driving toward green you're basically in th…

I didn't know that about tge Santa Cruz mountains. The hills are brown in the summer in the North Bay and on up into Mendicino county.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#134

Post by Hydraulix989 »

iak8god wrote: post #130
Hydraulix989 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People actually from Pittsburgh do (I'm a fourth generation native, my great grandfather farmed tomatoes for H.J. Heinz -- look on a ketchup bottle): "Shame. It’s pretty thick in these parts, and it’s linked to the region’s nickname, 'The Rust Belt.' After all, rust connotes disuse, or of being left behind." [1] Hope that helps you see our point of view a bit more. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richey-piiparinen/…

An addendum to my sibling comment here: A cusory web search turns up indie bookstores, restaurants, literary publishers, community groups of various sorts, etc in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit that embrace the term "rust belt". I didn't easily find similar results for Pittsburgh, so maybe yinz do have a different take on it. But please don't assume others intend "rust belt" as a pejorative, and please consider recogniz…

I've only ever heard Californians and New Yorkers use the word pejoratively, like in OP's context.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#135

Post by rwallace »

nugget wrote: post #51
tarr11 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, can you expand on services business being lifestyle vs product being venture? I had never heard of that distinction before and usually just thought of lifestyle businesses as slower growing vs faster.

Sure, here's an example - a small startup which occupies an attractive niche, definite market need, product-market fit, and decent traction. The founder developed a software platform in response to market need, but the market also told her that there were opportunities to sell extensive services. Now that the software platform is done and there is a small services team in place, the founder can choose to sell either:…

Why would that last be a good idea? You're throwing away a good business with 70% gross margins - for what? Okay, to concentrate on something that might be a good business with 99% gross margins, but is the difference between 70% and 99% all that important compared to other factors, like the difference between is and might be? Not a rhetorical question; maybe there is some logic to it that I'm missing.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#136

Post by DrScump »

tomjakubowski wrote: post #110
theYipster wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've long found a third drawback, which may be linked to the access to capital issue, is Pittsburgh's geographical isolation compared to the Bay Area and other tech hot spots. There's no major international air hub (anymore) and flights even to nearby cities such as NY, DC, and Philly are relatively pricey with limited schedules. There's no meaningful international service either anymore. This is in comparison to SFO…

I realize this is off-topic, but I'm somewhat surprised by the consistent use of the Austin metro as an example of a "tech hub" in comments here, when a metro area in its own state (Dallas) had raised more in venture capital as recently as 2016. [1] Austin is certainly shifting their economy to be tech-dominant, but it's still a small economy relative to other US cities. What makes Austin a more important tech hub th…

Wasn't Dell based in nearby Round Rock?

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#137

Post by DrScump »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #16
smaili wrote: post #3

The author seems to place most of the credit for the recent 'boom' on CMU for its rich history in the Machine Learning and Robotics fields. So my question is, what happens when other top universities begin to catch up or even possibly dethrone CMU? Would Pittsburg still continue to attract talent and businesses?

CMU has consistently been ranked #1 in the world for computer science. Generally, university rankings are VERY consistent over time. Harvard isn't going to stop being Harvard any time soon. Also, "Pittsburgh" is spelled with an "h" at the end.

I think some tech people confuse it with Pittsburg in the SF Bay Area, if it was the one they heard of first.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#138

Post by nunez »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #122
lod723 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just speculating, but maybe it's because Google, Facebook, and Amazon have a tech presence in Austin and not in the other 3 metros you mentioned?

Google has sales and engineering in Chicago, engineering in Chapel Hill, and sales in Dallas. I think there may be some engineering in Dallas too. There are enough good people out there unwilling to relocate that you can find a Google presence in most tech corridors.

Google doesn't have an office in Dallas anymore

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#139

Post by nostrademons »

blackguardx wrote: post #133
nostrademons wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rule of thumb is that the Santa Cruz mountains are green and the East Bay Hills are brown. When I moved to the Bay Area, I was taught that this is how you orient yourself: if green is on your left and brown on your right, you're going north; if green is on your right and brown on your left, you're going south; if you're driving toward brown, you're going east; and if you're driving toward green you're basically in th…

I didn't know that about tge Santa Cruz mountains. The hills are brown in the summer in the North Bay and on up into Mendicino county.

It's because the fog regularly rolls over them on the peninsula, even during the summer. So there's a lot of moisture available for redwoods, undergrowth, etc.

BTW, it doesn't apply to the foothills, nor does it apply farther south (past Cupertino or so). So Rancho San Antonio is still brown in summer, ditto Lexington Reservoir, The Dish, San Jose foothills, etc. San Lorenzo valley is green year-round, though.

Re: Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover

#140

Post by benmccann »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #97
getemback wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck finding a sunny day because Pittsburgh enjoys the fewest hours of annual sunlight of any major city, and continues to have air quality as bad as any other US city, being in the top ten worst according to the Lung Association.

Most people in California don't realize that the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area is actually worse than in Pittsburgh [1]. Moreover, after growing up in Pittsburgh and living in Seattle, I can tell you that Seattle definitely has less sunlight (it's not even close) than Pittsburgh. So much less that my doctor had to prescribe my Vitamin D to address a deficiency I had when I moved there (after living in Pit…

I'm not sure Pittsburgh is much sunnier

Rank City Annual % sunshine 164 PITTSBURGH, PA 45% 165 SEATTLE C.O., WA 43%

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