4 ms·

Is it possible that there are places in the United States which are neither the Bay Area, nor NYC, nor Oklahoma? Surely at least some residents of these places,

by _dwt 6y ago

Is it possible that there are places in the United States which are neither the Bay Area, nor NYC, nor Oklahoma? Surely at least some residents of these places, if they exist, might in fact dispute the broad-spectrum superiority of our most culturally legible cities. Some of these hypothetical humans might even work more than 100 hours a week, perhaps even outdoors!

yardie 6y ago
I've lived in a few countries and a many cities. Most of them would love to have the likes of a SV incubator/industry in them. And they will do almost anything to get it: grants, housing, tax credits. And nothing ever sticks. There are a few startups that found a comfortable niche in their small town or big town in small nation. But these are lifestyle companies, and little more than consulting firms. An outlier in a poppy field. A friend of mine just opened a local office in SF for a Florida based company. The talent wasn't coming to them and for what they wanted to do they had to go there.
david38 6y ago
College campuses. The Midwest had several large (student body and size) campuses with strong engineering departments.
- screye 6y ago
  Will second this, college towns are excellent places to do this. Especially large public schools within a day trip to a major city or in a non-tech city in general. Examples- Ann arbor, Amherst, Pittsburg, College station TX, Phoenix, Champaign, Chapel hill, Madison, Boulder.
  - flemhans 6y ago
    How would it be like to move an existing startup to e.g. Amherst? Wouldn't it still feel like being in the countryside a bit? I'd imagine I would potentially slow down.
    - screye 6y ago
      It's funny that of all the cities I listed you asked about Amherst, because that's the only one that I have lived in. There are a few [3] tech startups in Amherst. Umass has a US top 10 AI/ML department [1][2], so most of these work with the world class labs there. The town itself is wonderful, since it is basically 5 schools with a total of about 30k students, under the age of 30. So, it can be pretty happening. There is also the neighboring town on Northampton which brings in a lot of 'culture'. It isn't city life, but it isn't bad at all. Boston is 2 hrs away, which isn't too bad if you need to do weekly trips to meet investors / important people / others in the startup scene. You can source talent by giving low-ish paid interns to the really smart CS students, and get amazing consultants by working with the profs there. Ofc, all of this only works if your work and the research/focus of the labs align. For the 'be ambitious' spirit of tech hubs, you can rely on 'overworked grad students' to lend that same kind of energy. Although honestly, places like Ann Arbor,Champaign and Pittsburg, will probably get you better talent (UMich, UIUC, CMU) at only a marginally higher cost. Amherst is really worth it if the offerings at UMass and Boston align perfectly with your product. [1] http://csrankings.org/#/index?ai&vision&mlmining&nlp&ir http://csrankings.org/#/index?ai&vision&mlmining&nlp&ir [2] https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/artificial-intelligence-rankings https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-sch... [3] https://www.lexalytics.com/ https://www.lexalytics.com/
  - kbob 6y ago
    I came here to say this. College towns are my favorite places to live. I think a big part of it is that the faculty and staff both create and demand culture more than average people. They also appreciate and support public schools and libraries. And since academia doesn't pay well, there's less cost of living inflation than in private sector tech cities.
- cercatrova 6y ago
  I'd disagree, the work that's done in college campuses, are for, well, college. Students don't have time to work on startups really, there just isn't the same commitment as when in the workforce or doing it full time. Or perhaps I'm missing something else in this comment?
beamatronic 6y ago
Sacramento. Totally undervalued. No one seems to see this!
- p1esk 6y ago
  What’s so good about Sacramento?
  - blaser-waffle 6y ago
    State capital -- largest state in the US, by far; too -- plus a university nearby (UC Davis is "nearby" as in not too far, but not smack in town); California weather, and about an hour and a half drive to the bay area (traffic permitting, lol), so you could do a once a week/few times a month commute to SV-type gigs but stay remote.
  - beamatronic 6y ago
    Reasonable cost of living, easy access to San Francisco, reasonably healthy economy, easy access to Tahoe, access to many food options

by _dwt 6y ago

yardie 6y ago

I've lived in a few countries and a many cities. Most of them would love to have the likes of a SV incubator/industry in them. And they will do almost anything to get it: grants, housing, tax credits. And nothing ever sticks. There are a few startups that found a comfortable niche in their small town or big town in small nation. But these are lifestyle companies, and little more than consulting firms. An outlier in a poppy field. A friend of mine just opened a local office in SF for a Florida based company. The talent wasn't coming to them and for what they wanted to do they had to go there.

david38 6y ago

College campuses. The Midwest had several large (student body and size) campuses with strong engineering departments.

screye 6y ago
Will second this, college towns are excellent places to do this. Especially large public schools within a day trip to a major city or in a non-tech city in general. Examples- Ann arbor, Amherst, Pittsburg, College station TX, Phoenix, Champaign, Chapel hill, Madison, Boulder.
- flemhans 6y ago
  How would it be like to move an existing startup to e.g. Amherst? Wouldn't it still feel like being in the countryside a bit? I'd imagine I would potentially slow down.
  - screye 6y ago
    It's funny that of all the cities I listed you asked about Amherst, because that's the only one that I have lived in. There are a few [3] tech startups in Amherst. Umass has a US top 10 AI/ML department [1][2], so most of these work with the world class labs there. The town itself is wonderful, since it is basically 5 schools with a total of about 30k students, under the age of 30. So, it can be pretty happening. There is also the neighboring town on Northampton which brings in a lot of 'culture'. It isn't city life, but it isn't bad at all. Boston is 2 hrs away, which isn't too bad if you need to do weekly trips to meet investors / important people / others in the startup scene. You can source talent by giving low-ish paid interns to the really smart CS students, and get amazing consultants by working with the profs there. Ofc, all of this only works if your work and the research/focus of the labs align. For the 'be ambitious' spirit of tech hubs, you can rely on 'overworked grad students' to lend that same kind of energy. Although honestly, places like Ann Arbor,Champaign and Pittsburg, will probably get you better talent (UMich, UIUC, CMU) at only a marginally higher cost. Amherst is really worth it if the offerings at UMass and Boston align perfectly with your product. [1] http://csrankings.org/#/index?ai&vision&mlmining&nlp&ir http://csrankings.org/#/index?ai&vision&mlmining&nlp&ir [2] https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/artificial-intelligence-rankings https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-sch... [3] https://www.lexalytics.com/ https://www.lexalytics.com/
- kbob 6y ago
  I came here to say this. College towns are my favorite places to live. I think a big part of it is that the faculty and staff both create and demand culture more than average people. They also appreciate and support public schools and libraries. And since academia doesn't pay well, there's less cost of living inflation than in private sector tech cities.
cercatrova 6y ago
I'd disagree, the work that's done in college campuses, are for, well, college. Students don't have time to work on startups really, there just isn't the same commitment as when in the workforce or doing it full time. Or perhaps I'm missing something else in this comment?

beamatronic 6y ago

Sacramento. Totally undervalued. No one seems to see this!

p1esk 6y ago
What’s so good about Sacramento?
- blaser-waffle 6y ago
  State capital -- largest state in the US, by far; too -- plus a university nearby (UC Davis is "nearby" as in not too far, but not smack in town); California weather, and about an hour and a half drive to the bay area (traffic permitting, lol), so you could do a once a week/few times a month commute to SV-type gigs but stay remote.
- beamatronic 6y ago
  Reasonable cost of living, easy access to San Francisco, reasonably healthy economy, easy access to Tahoe, access to many food options