6 ms·
As a midwestern startup-y guy, with coastal exposure, and a number of friends and acquaintances who are trying to, and/or have landed vc, some of whom have mov
by mml 15y ago
As a midwestern startup-y guy, with coastal exposure, and a number of friends and acquaintances who are trying to, and/or have landed vc, some of whom have moved to the coasts, some who have not: I think this article is more self-congratulatory bullshit from coastals who thing the sun shines out of their nether regions.
Some points:
1. It's _very_ hard to raise vc out here. We like it that way (at least I do). There, I said it. The pie in the sky bay area nonsense ideas just don't hold water here. Nor should they there, but they do. Twitter couldn't happen in the midwest, it shouldn't have happened anywhere else either.
2. Stealth mode. anything you do here is stealth mode. Probably forever.
3. LOTS of startups move from here to the coasts when they start to pick up.
4. As a midwestern startup, you need business presence on one or more coasts, so there are significant efficiencies to be gained by moving your entire operation there. Unfortunately, everyone else has the same idea, so rents are huge, and the giant money you have to pay the local talent just winds up in landlords' pockets in the end.
5. If you can do startup-y stuff from the midwest, for coastal clients, you will live like the king of france, in your giant, and incredibly cheap house.
6. Many people dislike California, and/or Californians.
7. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
8. Many natives of the coasts have never even been to the midwest. Ever. The midwest is an enormous geographical area, full of enormously different people. To paint the midwest with a single brush is incredibly ignorant and patronizing.
9. Many midwestern families haven't lived on farms for hundreds of years. Just thought I'd mention it.
10. Working insane hours just means you're young. Kids do that in flyover country all the time, usually to make up for the crap quality of their code in volume.
</rant>
- sgrove 15y agoI actually couldn't tell if you were being satirical or not for a bit into your rant. Up until #4 (and then #6, and a few others), everything seemed to me like shining examples of the midwestern attitudes. Surly, 'hardened', bitter, negative, and proud of it. My cofounder is from the midwest, and I'm a 'coastal' native. Just an interesting observation.
- wj 15y agoAny insight into the dislike of California and/or Californians? (I've noticed that too while visiting the Midwest.) Your eighth point about stereotyping of the Midwest seems to be what people are doing about California. A slight replacement to your sentence "California is an enormous geographical area, full of enormously different people. To paint the midwest with a single brush is incredibly ignorant and patronizing." California is mostly agricultural land. It has some large cities on the coast. Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. with wonderful cultural pockets all over the place (Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Ethopia, Little Tehran, Little Osaka, etc.) Also, a lot of people's travel is predicated on a need to travel somewhere. If you don't have family in a place, or do a school trip there, or business trip when you're older, there is a good chance they won't vacation there.
- saalweachter 15y agoIt's mainly sour grapes. California has ascended while the Midwest has declined. On the farm front, there was a bit of a migration of second sons from the Midwest to California in the 50's, I believe. Some of those who left (abandoning their Midwest roots, traitors) became rich; some of those who stayed became poor. The poor cousins on the family homestead in Minnesota or Indiana look at the rich cousins on new farms in California and say, we wouldn't want to live there anyway. Economically, in the last thirty years the Midwest has turned into the Rust Belt, while California has become Silicon Valley. More resentment builds. On the wine front, the Ohio River Valley was once wine country, centered around Cincinnati, perched to rival the Rhine. Now it's all Napa, Napa, Napa. But hey, at least in the Midwest you don't have to put up with _Californians_.
- angersock 15y agoHey, how's that state budget doing (http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2010/bud/fiscal_outlook/fiscal_outlook_2010.aspx http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2010/bud/fiscal_outlook/fiscal...)? And those friendly gun laws? And quality police force?
- joezydeco 15y agoMy gut take (as a lifelong Chicagoan) is that Californians, after being there long enough, believe in the bullshit they're selling and tolerate it from others as well. Chicagoans tend to develop and groom BS filters throughout their lives and will either a) ignore it or b) call it out right away. Perhaps this is why Californians can get away with the bluesky radical ideas and Chicagoans are more about "Okay, great. Now how are we gonna make money with it?"