4 ms·

Why Silicon Valley is effective at startups is because the insitutions and people that can help you have already formed and there are strong networks and resour

Why Silicon Valley is effective at startups is because the insitutions and people that can help you have already formed and there are strong networks and resources to get stuff done. Sure some jobs can be done remotely but being face to face with both talent and VC is still something important. A bunch of these articles pop up with this premise but it mainly is an advertisement for local cities or other places in reality.

dogerjoe 9y ago
To add on, none of these articles seem to talk about the racial diversity in the Midwest. Yes, there is a problem with diversity in Silicon Valley and tech in general, but the West and East Coast seem to advertise themselves to be friendly towards immigrants whereas this and many other articles seem to only gear towards White (and maybe Indian, but it seems to be execs not engineers) as shown in the pictures. Edit: I mean that it's curious that the Midwest never seems to advertise toward immigrants or minorities in tech. What motivates minorities to move to the Midwest if it seems the culture doesn't seem to support racial integration?
- whatok 9y ago
  Maybe some people don't care about diversity or care more about getting a decent job in a low cost of living area? I find it insulting that a company needs to "advertise" towards me in that way.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  I'm not in the Midwest, but am in a place that culturally is, and I'd say the big reason is we just don't talk about it. If I drive five minutes in any direction I'll run across tens of thousands of immigrants (not exaggerating). Mexican, Vietnamese, Indian, etc. Virtue signaling is a dirty term, but we just don't virtue signal about it the same way. We accept immigrants and they accept us and we get on with life. Anyone is welcome to come build here and they do. Not that racism and such isn't a problem, but I'd guess it's as much an issue in almost every major US city, certain places are obsessed with showing how enlightened they are. For the record, I work with minorities and immigrants in multiple companies and they are all great at what they do. They want to be respected not tokenized. I've observed many SV companies are good about saying the right things about minorities but don't actually act in ways that support them, nor are they especially racially diverse.
  - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
    >Virtue signaling is a dirty term, but we just don't virtue signal about it the same way. We accept immigrants and they accept us and we get on with life. Anyone is welcome to come build here and they do. Not that racism and such isn't a problem, but I'd guess it's as much an issue in almost every major US city, certain places are obsessed with showing how enlightened they are. You hit the nail on the head IMO.
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
  What motivates minorities to move to the Midwest if it seems the culture doesn't seem to support racial integration? In my case it was simply that the only Minnesotans I had ever known (and one turned out to be Canadian!) were very nice people. Yes, I moved half-way across the continent based on a dataset of N=2! But further, your comment presupposes that "the culture doesn't seem to support racial integration" when (1) this assumption isn't based on anything beyond speculation and (2) it was honestly something that hadn't even occurred to me. Stated plainly: as a minority, my experience has been that people who "advertise toward immigrants or minorities" typically have an agenda that I won't necessarily agree with and doesn't help me in any way. I don't need "support," although I welcome it; I need people to stay the fuck out of my way.
- rhapsodic 9y ago
  >I mean that it's curious that the Midwest never seems to advertise toward immigrants or minorities in tech. What precisely do you mean when you say "the Midwest never seems to advertise toward immigrant or minorities in tech"? Do you mean you won't find the same level of preachy self-righteousness in the Midwest as you do in more liberal coastal areas?
- pnutjam 9y ago
  Most of this is happening in urban areas, which are probably more diverse then SV. However I'm sure most of this is also happening at the higher income and education level, which is less diverse in the midwest. There are still a lot of barriers for non-whites.
freehunter 9y ago
I would be very interested if there are statistics to back up the idea that Silicon Valley startups are more successful than startups created elsewhere. I guess that would also mean defining what "successful" actually means.
- wolco 9y ago
  The local startups around here try to self fund so the focus is on making a profit. The types of companies like twitter that can lose money while growing the base for years changes the types of products each will/can make.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
s73v3r_ 9y ago
Is it? Or has it always been that the VCs preferred it that way, and so that's how it went?
- angersock 9y ago
  Now now, surely you aren't implying that this is due to VCs wanting to make people "kiss the ring" without having to travel themselves?
  - duxup 9y ago
    Maybe more they want them nearby so they can keep an eye on things, make introductions, etc...
  - notfromhere 9y ago
    VC's are lazy and don't want to travel, while VC's outside Silicon Valley usually don't have the mountains of cash to light on fire with ideas like Juicero.

dogerjoe 9y ago

To add on, none of these articles seem to talk about the racial diversity in the Midwest. Yes, there is a problem with diversity in Silicon Valley and tech in general, but the West and East Coast seem to advertise themselves to be friendly towards immigrants whereas this and many other articles seem to only gear towards White (and maybe Indian, but it seems to be execs not engineers) as shown in the pictures. Edit: I mean that it's curious that the Midwest never seems to advertise toward immigrants or minorities in tech. What motivates minorities to move to the Midwest if it seems the culture doesn't seem to support racial integration?

whatok 9y ago
Maybe some people don't care about diversity or care more about getting a decent job in a low cost of living area? I find it insulting that a company needs to "advertise" towards me in that way.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
aaron-lebo 9y ago
I'm not in the Midwest, but am in a place that culturally is, and I'd say the big reason is we just don't talk about it. If I drive five minutes in any direction I'll run across tens of thousands of immigrants (not exaggerating). Mexican, Vietnamese, Indian, etc. Virtue signaling is a dirty term, but we just don't virtue signal about it the same way. We accept immigrants and they accept us and we get on with life. Anyone is welcome to come build here and they do. Not that racism and such isn't a problem, but I'd guess it's as much an issue in almost every major US city, certain places are obsessed with showing how enlightened they are. For the record, I work with minorities and immigrants in multiple companies and they are all great at what they do. They want to be respected not tokenized. I've observed many SV companies are good about saying the right things about minorities but don't actually act in ways that support them, nor are they especially racially diverse.
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  >Virtue signaling is a dirty term, but we just don't virtue signal about it the same way. We accept immigrants and they accept us and we get on with life. Anyone is welcome to come build here and they do. Not that racism and such isn't a problem, but I'd guess it's as much an issue in almost every major US city, certain places are obsessed with showing how enlightened they are. You hit the nail on the head IMO.
HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
What motivates minorities to move to the Midwest if it seems the culture doesn't seem to support racial integration? In my case it was simply that the only Minnesotans I had ever known (and one turned out to be Canadian!) were very nice people. Yes, I moved half-way across the continent based on a dataset of N=2! But further, your comment presupposes that "the culture doesn't seem to support racial integration" when (1) this assumption isn't based on anything beyond speculation and (2) it was honestly something that hadn't even occurred to me. Stated plainly: as a minority, my experience has been that people who "advertise toward immigrants or minorities" typically have an agenda that I won't necessarily agree with and doesn't help me in any way. I don't need "support," although I welcome it; I need people to stay the fuck out of my way.
rhapsodic 9y ago
>I mean that it's curious that the Midwest never seems to advertise toward immigrants or minorities in tech. What precisely do you mean when you say "the Midwest never seems to advertise toward immigrant or minorities in tech"? Do you mean you won't find the same level of preachy self-righteousness in the Midwest as you do in more liberal coastal areas?
pnutjam 9y ago
Most of this is happening in urban areas, which are probably more diverse then SV. However I'm sure most of this is also happening at the higher income and education level, which is less diverse in the midwest. There are still a lot of barriers for non-whites.

freehunter 9y ago

I would be very interested if there are statistics to back up the idea that Silicon Valley startups are more successful than startups created elsewhere. I guess that would also mean defining what "successful" actually means.

wolco 9y ago
The local startups around here try to self fund so the focus is on making a profit. The types of companies like twitter that can lose money while growing the base for years changes the types of products each will/can make.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

s73v3r_ 9y ago

Is it? Or has it always been that the VCs preferred it that way, and so that's how it went?

angersock 9y ago
Now now, surely you aren't implying that this is due to VCs wanting to make people "kiss the ring" without having to travel themselves?
- duxup 9y ago
  Maybe more they want them nearby so they can keep an eye on things, make introductions, etc...
- notfromhere 9y ago
  VC's are lazy and don't want to travel, while VC's outside Silicon Valley usually don't have the mountains of cash to light on fire with ideas like Juicero.