VC. Or, lack thereof. What VC there is goes into older, more established companies and founders. There isn't a lack of talent. Far from it, in my experience. (

VC. Or, lack thereof. What VC there is goes into older, more established companies and founders. There isn't a lack of talent. Far from it, in my experience. (Actually, I think Minneapolis and Chicago would be great places to start a startup, on account of talent and COL. If the three worst things about a place are December, January, and February, you live in a great location.) Nor is there a mentality problem among the people who would be founders. It's a funding and access problem. It's not just Chicago, of course. This funding problem is the reality pretty much everywhere and for everyone except extremely well-connected, upper-middle-class kids in California. If I had the money, though, I'd drop a wad of cash on a Midwestern city like Madison or Minneapolis and try to build a Silicon Valley there-- not that there's anything wrong with the existing one, but just because I don't think it's healthy to have most of our innovation in one or two locations, and a place with low COL and high QOL might be a great place to start trying to do something new and different.