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How exportable is YCombinator? Much of YCombinator depends on people being in the same geography. I understand that to be the reason why founders are required t

How exportable is YCombinator? Much of YCombinator depends on people being in the same geography. I understand that to be the reason why founders are required to move to Mountain View. Do you think it would be possible to start YCombinator prime elsewhere in the country? If we put together many of the same factors, angels, infrastructure, good mentors, could this be replicated, albeit on a smaller scale?

adbachman 16y ago
He's written about this in the past. "Can You Buy a Silicon Valley? Maybe." http://paulgraham.com/maybe.html http://paulgraham.com/maybe.html and "How to Be Silicon Valley" http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html. He trends towards, "go to them", though: http://paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html http://paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html It comes down to people, money, and time. Exporting Silicon Valley might be the wrong approach. Another place must have its own culture and value system in order to survive and those qualities can't be borrowed. Boulder, Boston, Austin, and to some extent NYC and a few other east coast (of the US) cities (my heart belongs to Baltimore) have burgeoning scenes, but each is different than SV. Where they don't try to simply mimic, I think they're more likely to find success.
anamax 16y ago
> If we put together many of the same factors, angels, infrastructure, good mentors, could this be replicated, albeit on a smaller scale? You need "enough" of all of the critical factors and then you have to overcome whatever penalty you incur from missing some of the "nice to haves". Considering the odds against success even with all of the stars aligned .... Seriously - unless your customers care where you are, why are you so resistant to going to where the odds of success are highest? It's okay to value things other than success, but you're competing with people who are focussed on success. How are you going to overcome that advantage?
pg 16y ago
The hardest part to replicate elsewhere would be the angels. You really need them, more than you need VCs, and you can't just call them into being.

adbachman 16y ago

He's written about this in the past. "Can You Buy a Silicon Valley? Maybe." http://paulgraham.com/maybe.html http://paulgraham.com/maybe.html and "How to Be Silicon Valley" http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html. He trends towards, "go to them", though: http://paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html http://paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html It comes down to people, money, and time. Exporting Silicon Valley might be the wrong approach. Another place must have its own culture and value system in order to survive and those qualities can't be borrowed. Boulder, Boston, Austin, and to some extent NYC and a few other east coast (of the US) cities (my heart belongs to Baltimore) have burgeoning scenes, but each is different than SV. Where they don't try to simply mimic, I think they're more likely to find success.

anamax 16y ago

> If we put together many of the same factors, angels, infrastructure, good mentors, could this be replicated, albeit on a smaller scale? You need "enough" of all of the critical factors and then you have to overcome whatever penalty you incur from missing some of the "nice to haves". Considering the odds against success even with all of the stars aligned .... Seriously - unless your customers care where you are, why are you so resistant to going to where the odds of success are highest? It's okay to value things other than success, but you're competing with people who are focussed on success. How are you going to overcome that advantage?

pg 16y ago

The hardest part to replicate elsewhere would be the angels. You really need them, more than you need VCs, and you can't just call them into being.