The only think I know about Michigan towns is what I read on Wikipedia and see on Google, so you have me at a distinct disadvantage. Totally FWIW though, a stu

The only think I know about Michigan towns is what I read on Wikipedia and see on Google, so you have me at a distinct disadvantage. Totally FWIW though, a stupidly quick googling (http://www.google.com/search?q=software+ann+arbor http://www.google.com/search?q=software+ann+arbor) reveals a fair number of software companies doing stuff from factory floor automation to RFID to iPad apps to circuit design to network management and analytics. Your "4-5 companies" phrase was surely hyperbole, but it would appear that there's worthwhile stuff going on in Ann Arbor. ("Worthwhile" being entirely subjective, of course.) Besides that, all I can do is offer my own anecdote. I started Snowtide in 2001, failed badly (via circumstances and my own stupidity), resurrected it in 2004, and it's been profitable ever since. Bootstrapped from the beginning (the products we sell and the problems I'm interested are largely of little interest to VCs), we've grown (and shrunk -- last year was not fun) in Western Massachusetts the whole time. While we had offices in Northampton (pop. 28K according to Wikipedia), we hosted a series of talks; Rich Hickey came in 2008 (http://cemerick.com/2008/03/21/western-mass-developers-group-and-snowtide-host-rich-hickey-and-clojure/ http://cemerick.com/2008/03/21/western-mass-developers-group...), and Ben Fry in 2009 (http://cemerick.com/2009/04/28/snowtide-informatics-welcomes-ben-fry/ http://cemerick.com/2009/04/28/snowtide-informatics-welcomes...). We regularly had showings of over 30 @ 7PM on thursday nights, and closer to 50-60 for the Hickey and Fry talks (something that I know fairly popular groups in Boston and NYC have trouble pulling off) -- all remarkably pleasant, talented people doing interesting work, either for other local companies or as telecommuting contractors. Perhaps it's the universities and colleges in the area that make it work – it's Massachusetts after all, so you literally can't drive for more than 10 minutes without passing another one. In any case, when I hear people say (or, more typically, imply) that vibrancy in software community and opportunity is somehow naturally limited to specific geographies, I get a little irritated: that attitude might keep someone else (more like, many someone elses) from starting a company or taking a job in a locale that isn't on the "shortlist", even when locale isn't relevant to their success.