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Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

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Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#41

Post by swah »

wesgarrison wrote: post #24
ricardobeat wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in the largest cities of Brazil you can get 100mb internet for US$150, rent a good house for US$1000 (or an apartment for $500), and hire great talent for ~$2-3k/month; they all have active startup and developer scenes. As a bonus you get access to a booming mobile market :)

Serious question: what would it take for a US citizen to move to Brazil and work there? I don't have any idea about the visa intricacies.

I'm offering to switch places with you. There are no Apple stores nor Amazon here. We have sugar Coke though...

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#42

Post by cjfarivar »

EwanG wrote: post #17
cjfarivar wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cyrus Farivar from Ars Technica here. Would you be willing to talk more about your thoughts on this? Email me: cyrus.farivar@arstechnica.com. Thanks!

Are you looking for folks who have applied (I just did), folks who currently live in KC and might be willing to be part of this, or... ?

I was, but we published already.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/08/startups-would-you-c...

Still, if you do end up committing to move there, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#43

Post by peacemaker »

cjfarivar wrote: post #42
EwanG wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you looking for folks who have applied (I just did), folks who currently live in KC and might be willing to be part of this, or... ?

I was, but we published already. http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/08/startups-would-you-c... Still, if you do end up committing to move there, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Hey, just read your article and noticed my comments! Shame I only just saw this reply as I would have emailed you with a bit more detail.

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#44

Post by batista »

veemjeem wrote: post #38
sakopov wrote: post #32

I lived in Kansas City most of my life. Here is my take on living in Kansas City and building a start-up here. 1. Climate. There is no mild weather in KC. Summers are excruciatingly hot. Winters can sometimes be very cold and snowy. Tornadoes can get pretty scary at times, but 90% of the time there is nothing to worry about. I've seen a couple of touchdowns in 15 years. Most of the time i just hear about them. 2. Cos…

The reason why SV is the scene for startups is simply because of the people here. It's expensive in SV, the traffic sucks, nightlife is mediocre, etc, but nobody cares about that stuff when they need to create a company. They only care about talented individuals, investors, and other existing startup companies. Getting free rent is just not enough of a motivator for moving to KC.

>* The reason why SV is the scene for startups is simply because of the people here. It's expensive in SV, the traffic sucks, nightlife is mediocre, etc, but nobody cares about that stuff when they need to create a company. They only care about talented individuals, investors, and other existing startup companies. Getting free rent is just not enough of a motivator for moving to KC.*

Not all startups care about VC money or hiring outside talent to work in site. Imagine a 5 person team working on some web service or a mobile app, with external people telecommuting if needed.

Why does everybody assume that startup = Facebook, Twitter, Groupon etc wannabes?

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#45

Post by adl »

veemjeem wrote: post #39
bogrollben wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you'll get: and potentially Google Fiber!

I don't think speedy internet is what motivates startup companies to move. Most people have their servers in data centers that are already wired with fiber. Speedy internet at home only increases the chance that you'll blow a few hours on netflix streaming video.

Don't look at it that way. Imagine the possibilities if your startup carters to users that are guaranteed to have ultra high speed internet.

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#46

Post by niels_olson »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #31
niels_olson wrote: post #7

Grew up in KC (Shawnee, specifically). If you are from a large coastal city and want to get acquainted with life in the Midwest, KC is a good start. Certainly less of a shock than, say, Omaha or Wichita.

KC is a reasonably culturally hip location as well. Decent music and arts scene. It's not San Francisco, but it beats the rest of Silicon Valley in that department. And the Nelson-Atkins Museum is better than anything in the Bay Area, in my opinion.

Been a while since I saw the Nelson-Atkins, but there are several solid museums in SF, as opposed to Nelson-Atkins being one of the few games in town in KC.

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#47

Post by adrr »

msh wrote: post #34
adrr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest downside for Kansas and Missouri is that both states enforce non compete clauses. Working at a company, and think you can can build a better product, tough luck you can't for the duration of specified in the clause. Also forces salaries lower, competitors can't hire you away. If you are skilled, you're better off in a state like California. Paid more money, and you aren't handcuffed to your job. Look what fac…

You dont get any compensation for noncompetes? I am not from the US, but where I come from noncompetes are enforced, but are very expensive (by law) for the companies so they are not used that often.

Nope. It doesn't require compensation. And it applies even if your are laid off, fired etc. I've seen some that extend for 2 years. Its legalized slavery which is why California outlaws them.

There's even worse things out there for employees. I've read about ownership of all ideas/work clauses including outside of work hours while employed and enforced in a court of law. Imagine doing a startup nights and weekends only having it taken from you.

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#48

Post by hosh »

nordicnomad82 wrote: post #8
hosh wrote: post #6

I have been wondering why metro Kansas City is home to a lot of interesting projects: Open Source Ecology, The Urban Farming Guys, Google Fiber. For a mid-sized city, it has a maker space and a Ruby User's Group. But what's in Kansas City? Tax-write-off wars and the Big 5. Awesome.

Lots of artists and tech people in a small community where it's possible for everyone to know each other an work together on interesting stuff helps. Add in a bunch of rich people who don't have to spend a lot to live luxuriously and get bored easily means a lot of cutting edge stuff gets funded that you wouldn't expect. And then you have a culture of giving back that includes the Kauffman foundation, which is the 4t…

Nice! Thanks for clarifying.

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#49

Post by hosh »

wesgarrison wrote: post #23
hosh wrote: post #6

I have been wondering why metro Kansas City is home to a lot of interesting projects: Open Source Ecology, The Urban Farming Guys, Google Fiber. For a mid-sized city, it has a maker space and a Ruby User's Group. But what's in Kansas City? Tax-write-off wars and the Big 5. Awesome.

We have a lot of biotech & life science investment here, too. Our Ruby talent pool lost some talent with the Google acquisition and subsequent moving of a local company, but we're back up to 40 at our Ruby group meetings twice a month. We have the Ruby Midwest conference and other developer conferences. Lots of opportunities to meet and hack with other developers. I would totally offer up my basement, but I'm just ou…

40 is about the average numbers of people who show up to the ATL Ruby Meetup.

I'll be swinging by that area in Sep, maybe I can drop in on something. KC sounds like a place I want to poke around in for a bit.

Re: Free Living Arrangements Offered to Startup Founders in Kansas City

#50

Post by hosh »

spudlyo wrote: post #29
hosh wrote: post #6

I have been wondering why metro Kansas City is home to a lot of interesting projects: Open Source Ecology, The Urban Farming Guys, Google Fiber. For a mid-sized city, it has a maker space and a Ruby User's Group. But what's in Kansas City? Tax-write-off wars and the Big 5. Awesome.

Also houses infested with brown-recluse spiders, which are both terrifying and fascinating at the same time. http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/spider-man/Content?oid=21878...

Tangent -- not a brown recluse, but a black widow spider: http://www.quora.com/Black-Widow/What-does-it-feel-like-to-b...
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