Really, this is already being done on a larger scale -- by setting up shop in Seattle, you alienate (or, properly stated, created a hurdle for) people from Sili

Really, this is already being done on a larger scale -- by setting up shop in Seattle, you alienate (or, properly stated, created a hurdle for) people from Silicon Valley, New York, or London. As long as you set up somewhere with a large enough talent pool to hire the number of people you need, you're fine. While Microsoft and Google are over in Redmond, Seattle proper has plenty of talented software types at companies like Amazon, Real Networks, and Boeing. Locating your startup in Skykomish or Roslyn would be a different story.