I’m in a weird situation in that I started my education and career on the West Coast, but ended up on the Midwest a decade later for personal reasons. I do have

I’m in a weird situation in that I started my education and career on the West Coast, but ended up on the Midwest a decade later for personal reasons. I do have to say that the business culture differences are astounding. Obviously I’m generalizing, but Midwest business culture is incredibly risk averse and VC money tends to flow to niche high research fields that the investor either came from or understands really well (e.g. Biotech). I’ve started to see some small changes with some funds looking to invest in “general” startups, but the capital is astonishingly weak. Honestly though, I’ve come to appreciate it (even though it can drive me batty - Midwest “nice” is a real thing and can be a severe hindrance to effective communication), as I think it forces a level of creativity and resiliency on me that I didn’t need in the West Coast. Finally the tech community out here is so small that people really genuinely seem to look out for one another and be genuinely interested in what other people are doing as you never know where the next job is going to come from.