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>Which is why Silicon Valley is in California, and why attempts to create a startup culture elsewhere have mostly failed. Silicon Valley's origin pre-dates the
by dev_tty01 6y ago
>Which is why Silicon Valley is in California, and why attempts to create a startup culture elsewhere have mostly failed.
Silicon Valley's origin pre-dates these labor laws. Hewlett-Packard was started in the late 1930's. Silicon Valley's success has much more to do with a critical mass of talent and infrastructure that started a long time ago. The labor friendly laws were created as part of California trying to nurture that success.
- hardwaresofton 6y agoDon't forget a lot of government investment.
- dantheman 6y agoThere has been lots of government investment in many areas - the question is why was SV different.
- twblalock 6y ago> The labor friendly laws were created as part of California trying to nurture that success. Which ones? Because California has banned noncompete agreements since the 1800s, and that is a big reason Silicon Valley ever got off the ground. Fairchild was literally founded by people who left their employer to compete with it directly, and they definitely took their knowledge with them.
- hn_throwaway_99 6y agoAnother commenter already responded, but some more details: California's pro-employee stance starts with section 16600, which states "Except as provided in this chapter, every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind is to that extent void." That was passed in 1872 and has effectively banned non-competes in CA.
- lambdasquirrel 6y agoBah humbug. Westinghouse was in New Jersey, as was Bell Labs, and IBM was in New York. And there was, at the time, a much larger population base in the East Coast. California had to try harder, and in the end, they won.