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It would be better to move a few hundred startups. Startups sometimes grow up to be big tech companies, and it's much easier to move tiny companies. We could,

by sama 10y ago

It would be better to move a few hundred startups. Startups sometimes grow up to be big tech companies, and it's much easier to move tiny companies. We could, uh, help with that.

devinhelton 10y ago
Problem with moving startups is that they are more fragile, and need every edge to beat out their peers. So if two startups are competing, and startup A is in the middle of nowhere, and startup B is connected to a pool of talent, advice, potential early customers, early adopters, and investors, then startup B has a huge advantage. That was PG's main reasoning for why YC startups should all move to the valley, right? That said -- perhaps you guys have the brand and connections now where you could nurture the talent/advice/investment ecosystem in an entirely new location. If so, that could be a really great thing.
kapitza 10y ago
I thought this wasn't a "libertarian utopia for techies?" When you look at how ordinary people choose a city to live in, the most important variable is who else gets to live there. Everything else is a rounding error. Boulder, Colorado is a beautiful little city. Its population is roughly the same as that of West Point, Liberia. Compare a city with the legislation and architecture of West Point, but the population of Boulder, to a city with the legislation and architecture of Boulder, and the population of West Point. Which would you rather live in? When you treat human beings as generic, interchangeable parts, you're missing the first lesson of Christopher Alexander's approach: design real solutions for real people. You probably wouldn't fund a YC company that assumed the world consisted of 6 billion interchangeable customers.
- jessaustin 10y ago
  This is a key insight. So many want to talk about rules and architecture, but habits outweigh everything else. When I lived in Singapore a long time ago, it was impossible to get off the subway during busy times, because of the solid mass of humanity who were trying to get in the door before anyone else got out. When I visited later, it was easy, because in the interim they had passed a law about where you have to stand while waiting. I've lived in lots of other cities with subways, and none of them needed that law, because the people there were not in the habit of being morons on the subway.

by sama 10y ago

It would be better to move a few hundred startups. Startups sometimes grow up to be big tech companies, and it's much easier to move tiny companies. We could, uh, help with that.

devinhelton 10y ago

Problem with moving startups is that they are more fragile, and need every edge to beat out their peers. So if two startups are competing, and startup A is in the middle of nowhere, and startup B is connected to a pool of talent, advice, potential early customers, early adopters, and investors, then startup B has a huge advantage. That was PG's main reasoning for why YC startups should all move to the valley, right? That said -- perhaps you guys have the brand and connections now where you could nurture the talent/advice/investment ecosystem in an entirely new location. If so, that could be a really great thing.

kapitza 10y ago

I thought this wasn't a "libertarian utopia for techies?" When you look at how ordinary people choose a city to live in, the most important variable is who else gets to live there. Everything else is a rounding error. Boulder, Colorado is a beautiful little city. Its population is roughly the same as that of West Point, Liberia. Compare a city with the legislation and architecture of West Point, but the population of Boulder, to a city with the legislation and architecture of Boulder, and the population of West Point. Which would you rather live in? When you treat human beings as generic, interchangeable parts, you're missing the first lesson of Christopher Alexander's approach: design real solutions for real people. You probably wouldn't fund a YC company that assumed the world consisted of 6 billion interchangeable customers.

jessaustin 10y ago
This is a key insight. So many want to talk about rules and architecture, but habits outweigh everything else. When I lived in Singapore a long time ago, it was impossible to get off the subway during busy times, because of the solid mass of humanity who were trying to get in the door before anyone else got out. When I visited later, it was easy, because in the interim they had passed a law about where you have to stand while waiting. I've lived in lots of other cities with subways, and none of them needed that law, because the people there were not in the habit of being morons on the subway.