3 ms·

4 of the five points are false. I can't comment on the personal network. Cambridge's real advantages over the Bay Area are that the weather is bad and there is

4 of the five points are false. I can't comment on the personal network. Cambridge's real advantages over the Bay Area are that the weather is bad and there isn't anything interesting to do (how many times can you go to 1369 or People's Republik?) Given these constraints, you might as well work 18 hours a day. San Francisco has the opposite problem. If I was yc I'd include a provision that the company has to be in San Mateo or some other boring peninsula/south bay hellhole, and not The City. There are simply too many distractions. I've never heard of a startup based in SF doing anywhere as well as the ones based in Silicon Valley proper.

geebee 19y ago
That's an interesting point about SF vs. the peninsula. I can't think of any startups that made it big out of san francisco - though I'm sure there must be some (anyone willing to suggest a few?) There's craigslist, or course - which should has been very successful even though they haven't cashed in. I'm not sure that the distractions are the problem, though. Personally, I think the distractions of SF help me a bit. The vibe gets me more charged up to work. I think it has more to do with the heavy concentration of non-tech related law and finance companies. One key to a tech center is that programmers, designers, and people with a start-up mentality are more likely to bump into each other. I live in the city, and walking around, you're much more likely to bump into a lawyer or finance person. And these aren't the lawyers who do startups (who you probably do bump into in the valley), they're the ones who do condo conversions.