9 ms·

Best Place to Start a Small Tech Business

6 points by fleitz 17y ago

With the passing of health care reform arguably, the landscape for starting a small biz has changed US-wide. (worldwide?) Given that many nations already have such policies where do you feel is the best place to start a small tech biz and why? This is a microscopic question, possibly down to neighborhoods. If we are to have niche business we'll need to find the best niches to eek out our existance.

_delirium 17y ago
A copout answer, but "it depends". For some tech startups, especially those hoping for funding, Silicon Valley with its strong networking/community/etc. is probably ideal. But for others, especially self-funded ones, somewhere with much cheaper living expenses might be a better tradeoff. Depends on personal style also. Do you find it useful/necessary to get inspiration and support from regular meatspace meetups with people with similar interests, e.g. hanging out at a place like the Hacker Dojo? Or are you more the sort of person who gets that sort of interaction from irc, mailing lists, IM, forums, and so on, and doesn't much care about irl meetings?
jlangenauer 17y ago
The best place to start is where you are. Unlike other businesses, tech businesses are rarely tied to a particular place. They have no plant or buildings, except usually for servers, and their customers usually come from all over the world. This means they're very easy to move. So start where you are. And if you need to move later on, it's no great hassle.
chegra84 17y ago
Ignoring the bit about health care reform(I don't know anything about that). 1) Start with genius, this is a phrase used by Meredith Belbin in his advise about selecting a team. So, I am basically saying go where you will find the talent necessary to implement your start up. 2) Start in a place with lots of early adopters. That is, start where the people are known to try new stuff and be seen as cool if they are at the cutting edge with technology. Just a few places: Boston, Silicon Valley, London... There will be other places around the world with these characteristics.
shin_lao 17y ago
You need the following: - proximity to universities - increases the probability to find talents and people willing to spend money in IT services - proximity with airport and train hubs - increases the probability of having customers (+ transport => + businesses) - high bandwidth Internet availability I don't know what you are referring to regarding health care, but basically if taxes and insurances spending break your profitability, you didn't have a real business to start with. Your number one spending will be salaries by a huge factor.
delano 17y ago
Honest question: how does the passing of health care reform in the US relate to the question about where to start a small tech business?
dnsworks 17y ago
To quote Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, "The best place to be is here, the best time is now" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBwryfycvk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBwryfycvk
00joe 17y ago
The title is a bit of a troll. I guess the idea is that now its too expensive to start a new business in the US because of healthcare.

6 points by fleitz 17y ago

_delirium 17y ago

A copout answer, but "it depends". For some tech startups, especially those hoping for funding, Silicon Valley with its strong networking/community/etc. is probably ideal. But for others, especially self-funded ones, somewhere with much cheaper living expenses might be a better tradeoff. Depends on personal style also. Do you find it useful/necessary to get inspiration and support from regular meatspace meetups with people with similar interests, e.g. hanging out at a place like the Hacker Dojo? Or are you more the sort of person who gets that sort of interaction from irc, mailing lists, IM, forums, and so on, and doesn't much care about irl meetings?

jlangenauer 17y ago

The best place to start is where you are. Unlike other businesses, tech businesses are rarely tied to a particular place. They have no plant or buildings, except usually for servers, and their customers usually come from all over the world. This means they're very easy to move. So start where you are. And if you need to move later on, it's no great hassle.

chegra84 17y ago

Ignoring the bit about health care reform(I don't know anything about that). 1) Start with genius, this is a phrase used by Meredith Belbin in his advise about selecting a team. So, I am basically saying go where you will find the talent necessary to implement your start up. 2) Start in a place with lots of early adopters. That is, start where the people are known to try new stuff and be seen as cool if they are at the cutting edge with technology. Just a few places: Boston, Silicon Valley, London... There will be other places around the world with these characteristics.

shin_lao 17y ago

You need the following: - proximity to universities - increases the probability to find talents and people willing to spend money in IT services - proximity with airport and train hubs - increases the probability of having customers (+ transport => + businesses) - high bandwidth Internet availability I don't know what you are referring to regarding health care, but basically if taxes and insurances spending break your profitability, you didn't have a real business to start with. Your number one spending will be salaries by a huge factor.

delano 17y ago

Honest question: how does the passing of health care reform in the US relate to the question about where to start a small tech business?

dnsworks 17y ago

To quote Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, "The best place to be is here, the best time is now" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBwryfycvk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBwryfycvk

00joe 17y ago

The title is a bit of a troll. I guess the idea is that now its too expensive to start a new business in the US because of healthcare.