4 ms·

Surprised Duolingo is the first out of Pittsburgh. There's a huge tech scene out there with tons of interesting stuff happening but with a reasonable cost of l

Surprised Duolingo is the first out of Pittsburgh. There's a huge tech scene out there with tons of interesting stuff happening but with a reasonable cost of living. They have the top ranked CS program plus a bunch of interesting robotics stuff going on.

dgacmu 7y ago
The VC-funded part is tricky to evaluate. FORE systems (in the 80s/90s) was worth almost $7b in 2019 dollars at the time of its acquisition. But I'm not sure if they took VC funding. Avere Systems was (2018?) acquired by Microsoft, but the terms weren't disclosed, so it's unclear if they grew a centrally located cranial horn or not. There've been others in similar ranges.
- wskish 7y ago
  FORE Systems (NADSAQ:FORE 1994 IPO) was funded by Battery Ventures and one other VC firm so it was definitely the first. https://www.battery.com/our-companies/company/fore-systems/ https://www.battery.com/our-companies/company/fore-systems/
OnlineGladiator 7y ago
As someone who went to CMU, there are just so few investors in Pittsburgh. In fact, many years ago I was talking with Severin Hacker (Duolingo cofounder) about some of the challenges of running a company there. There is a lot of engineering talent...and that's it. Marketing? Business development? There just aren't (or weren't) that many people there. I also know that Anki moved to San Francisco because it was the only way they could raise money. I also left Pittsburgh because it was the only way I could raise money. So long as the investors are in the Bay Area, it will continue to be the startup mecca of the world. That does seem to be slowly changing, but not nearly as fast as anyone promoting their city as the next startup hub is willing to admit.
- Cyph0n 7y ago
  I’m currently based in NC. Pittsburgh caught my eye as a potential place to move to, but it’s just too far away from... everything. I also understand it’s a very “sporty” city, which is something I’m not very into.
  - cfallin 7y ago
    > I also understand it’s a very “sporty” city, which is something I’m not very into. I wouldn't necessarily discount the city for this; in my time there, I realized there were really two Pittsburghs. You'll see the steel-town football-obsessed side any time you walk past a bar, but near the CMU/Pitt bubble it actually had a really intellectual vibe that I miss now that I've left. Not just the abundance of grad students, doctors and the like, but good libraries and bookstores, a fantastic symphony orchestra, a quality coffee scene, etc. Has a Portland/Seattle-like (including gray weather) vibe. And Steelers games are great times to go grocery shopping! The travel situation isn't great though. PIT has direct flights to most east coast cities but getting to the west coast indeed sucks. (United does have a direct SFO flight, IIRC, if a bit pricy.)
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    I was in a similar boat coming to Pittsburgh, but I will say this about the mixture of tech and sports here: I've watched it have the effect of getting people who didn't care about sports one way or the other at least surface interested. It's a city where you can find a great many sports nerds who can introduce a person to why these games are interesting from a statistical and story side, which is how I've come to interact with them. There's something to be said for places that overlap multiple cultures.
- busterarm 7y ago
  I had to learn marketing, advertising and PR in a previous engineering role. Perhaps entrepreneurial engineers that leave the area should cross train and bring those skills back to Pittsburgh once they've got some years behind them.
  - 7y ago
minimaxir 7y ago
CMU was pushing entrepreneurship very heavily while I was there (graduated 2012, when Duolingo was starting to take off which naturally CMU liked) Uber ATG is still heavily based in Pittsburgh/CMU.
- darkwizard42 7y ago
  Oh hey class of 2012 as well! Yeah they pushed a lot of interdisciplinary studies and really touted that in my degree (math + Econ)

dgacmu 7y ago

The VC-funded part is tricky to evaluate. FORE systems (in the 80s/90s) was worth almost $7b in 2019 dollars at the time of its acquisition. But I'm not sure if they took VC funding. Avere Systems was (2018?) acquired by Microsoft, but the terms weren't disclosed, so it's unclear if they grew a centrally located cranial horn or not. There've been others in similar ranges.

wskish 7y ago
FORE Systems (NADSAQ:FORE 1994 IPO) was funded by Battery Ventures and one other VC firm so it was definitely the first. https://www.battery.com/our-companies/company/fore-systems/ https://www.battery.com/our-companies/company/fore-systems/

OnlineGladiator 7y ago

As someone who went to CMU, there are just so few investors in Pittsburgh. In fact, many years ago I was talking with Severin Hacker (Duolingo cofounder) about some of the challenges of running a company there. There is a lot of engineering talent...and that's it. Marketing? Business development? There just aren't (or weren't) that many people there. I also know that Anki moved to San Francisco because it was the only way they could raise money. I also left Pittsburgh because it was the only way I could raise money. So long as the investors are in the Bay Area, it will continue to be the startup mecca of the world. That does seem to be slowly changing, but not nearly as fast as anyone promoting their city as the next startup hub is willing to admit.

Cyph0n 7y ago
I’m currently based in NC. Pittsburgh caught my eye as a potential place to move to, but it’s just too far away from... everything. I also understand it’s a very “sporty” city, which is something I’m not very into.
- cfallin 7y ago
  > I also understand it’s a very “sporty” city, which is something I’m not very into. I wouldn't necessarily discount the city for this; in my time there, I realized there were really two Pittsburghs. You'll see the steel-town football-obsessed side any time you walk past a bar, but near the CMU/Pitt bubble it actually had a really intellectual vibe that I miss now that I've left. Not just the abundance of grad students, doctors and the like, but good libraries and bookstores, a fantastic symphony orchestra, a quality coffee scene, etc. Has a Portland/Seattle-like (including gray weather) vibe. And Steelers games are great times to go grocery shopping! The travel situation isn't great though. PIT has direct flights to most east coast cities but getting to the west coast indeed sucks. (United does have a direct SFO flight, IIRC, if a bit pricy.)
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  I was in a similar boat coming to Pittsburgh, but I will say this about the mixture of tech and sports here: I've watched it have the effect of getting people who didn't care about sports one way or the other at least surface interested. It's a city where you can find a great many sports nerds who can introduce a person to why these games are interesting from a statistical and story side, which is how I've come to interact with them. There's something to be said for places that overlap multiple cultures.
busterarm 7y ago
I had to learn marketing, advertising and PR in a previous engineering role. Perhaps entrepreneurial engineers that leave the area should cross train and bring those skills back to Pittsburgh once they've got some years behind them.
- 7y ago

minimaxir 7y ago

CMU was pushing entrepreneurship very heavily while I was there (graduated 2012, when Duolingo was starting to take off which naturally CMU liked) Uber ATG is still heavily based in Pittsburgh/CMU.

darkwizard42 7y ago
Oh hey class of 2012 as well! Yeah they pushed a lot of interdisciplinary studies and really touted that in my degree (math + Econ)