7 ms·
PG wrote an essay on this in 2006: http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html I think the summary is that SV is a unique
by redis_mlc 6y ago
PG wrote an essay on this in 2006:
http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html
I think the summary is that SV is a unique confluence of education, freedom, commerce, funding, population, laissez-fair business, military and worker rights.
The closest I've seen to this is Toronto, though startup investment is on a miniscule scale compared to SV. Toronto may have an advantage in the future because health care is free there. (Israel also, and the town where Skype came from in Estonia?)
For those outside SV, you can talk investors into funding years of development and marketing based on just an idea. At first it seems crazy, but if the market is there, it works.
- oillio 6y agoYeah, SV had a lot of factors that needed to be just right for it to be successful. But we only need one SV. Once the model is proved out, it will naturally spread the seeds of startup culture to other cities. Like VC's drifting in the wind. The socio-economic soil of the transplants doesn't need to be nearly as fertile as the first location. It is taking a while, but the model is definitely spreading. Most every major city has a startup scene these days, and a government looking to nurture it.
- redis_mlc 6y agoWe're not seeing that for various reasons, often insurmountable ones. The Boston area has draconian employee IP ownership agreements, so that gives California a huge advantage. Some European countries require pre-payment of pensions, preventing start-ups from even forming. PG's essay was published 14 years ago, yet no city council seems to have adopted it as a checklist.