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I think Midwesterners are just too conservative for a startup scene to take root here. Venture capital, computers in general even are too new of ideas to depend

I think Midwesterners are just too conservative for a startup scene to take root here. Venture capital, computers in general even are too new of ideas to depend on. We're used to industries springing up around us, then running away to China or California, so investing in a 10-year plan when the next market crash could destroy the industry utterly seems kind of stupid. Besides, as the article said, $10M is more than enough to look down on your neighbors for the rest of your life, what more benefit could $10B give you?

jerf 11y ago
Well, conservative's a hard call. It's not so conservative that startups or new businesses are impossible, and it's not like everyone you encounter socially will look befuddled at you if you claim to be working for yourself. It's still the US here, and not some culture completely unfamiliar with the entire concept of working for yourself. It's just that if you ask anyone around here "Would you like $5 million now, or a chance at an unknown percentage of somewhere between $5 billion and $0 in 10 years?", even the entrepreneurial types are going to take that first one most of the time. Interesting thought: $5million is totally "f you" money around here in the Midwest; that's retire instantly for a fairly nice lifestyle, plus a quite healthy buffer. In Silicon Valley, that's still nothing to sneeze at, but it'll certainly seem like a lot less; a lot more people for your monkey brain to see around you that are still richer, a lot of single houses that can soak up that entire fortune and more, etc. You could retire instantly, but you'll have a lot more pulling you away. I wonder if that has any influence in the results? And of course there's also the fact that anyone who won't settle for anything less than the % at billions above will move to Silicon Valley. There's a lot of places in the world where you can make a successful startup, sometimes HN even has articles pointing that out, but there's not very many places you can get the rocket-powered VC capital to either grow a unicorn horn or die trying.

jerf 11y ago

Well, conservative's a hard call. It's not so conservative that startups or new businesses are impossible, and it's not like everyone you encounter socially will look befuddled at you if you claim to be working for yourself. It's still the US here, and not some culture completely unfamiliar with the entire concept of working for yourself. It's just that if you ask anyone around here "Would you like $5 million now, or a chance at an unknown percentage of somewhere between $5 billion and $0 in 10 years?", even the entrepreneurial types are going to take that first one most of the time. Interesting thought: $5million is totally "f you" money around here in the Midwest; that's retire instantly for a fairly nice lifestyle, plus a quite healthy buffer. In Silicon Valley, that's still nothing to sneeze at, but it'll certainly seem like a lot less; a lot more people for your monkey brain to see around you that are still richer, a lot of single houses that can soak up that entire fortune and more, etc. You could retire instantly, but you'll have a lot more pulling you away. I wonder if that has any influence in the results? And of course there's also the fact that anyone who won't settle for anything less than the % at billions above will move to Silicon Valley. There's a lot of places in the world where you can make a successful startup, sometimes HN even has articles pointing that out, but there's not very many places you can get the rocket-powered VC capital to either grow a unicorn horn or die trying.