6 ms·

Austin sees mass exodus of ex-Silicon Valley tech companies, here's why

20 points by DogOfTheGaps 3y ago

MenhirMike 3y ago
To save you a click on this ad-infested website: It does cite a TechCrunch article: https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/07/is-the-texas-boom-town-of-austin-losing-its-luster/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/07/is-the-texas-boom-town-of-... The reason is "the rising cost of living, low funding, and lack of diversity".
j4yav 3y ago
I remember Miami was also going to be the new Silicon Valley at one point, did that end up doing any better?
- maga_2020 3y ago
  A hear-say: it has typical liberal-city corruption and crime issues, and, of course, with a very high cost of living in safer neighborhoods. Better for taxes if you are ultra-rich, but otherwise you will be commuting 1.5 hours into an office in Miami, if you want to live in house that you can afford, with nearby public school where your kid will not be bullied.
mberning 3y ago
Lack of diversity is stated but never mentioned again. Diversity of what is left to the readers interpretation. This reads like a hit piece rather than a genuine exploration of a real issue.
- mathgeek 3y ago
  It’s paraphrasing from the Techcrunch source mentioned in other comments: > The summers are brutal — 2023’s was the hottest on record with 78 days of triple-digit temperatures. The startup scene, some argue, is lackluster. And funding — especially for midsize companies — can be hard to come by. A perceived lack of diversity is also an issue.
  - _heimdall 3y ago
    TechCrunch has the same problem of never again referencing this perceived diversity issue. They don't make clear what kind of diversity, who perceives it as missing, or if the perceived lack of diversity matches reality. Edit: ignore this! I didn't read the original TechCrunch article closely enough, it is mentioned later in the article as corrected in a following comment
    - cantSpellSober 3y ago
      No, that article goes on: > "The cost of living, especially housing, has made it more challenging for middle-class professionals — especially people of color — to buy into the market, which hurts startups that have to compete with the Googles and Teslas for talent,” said Spearman, who is Black. “The monoculture speaks more to the income disparity that is pricing out musicians, artists and hospitality workers who are so essential to the creative culture that makes Austin a great market for startup founders in the first place"
      - _heimdall 3y ago
        Oh thank you for this, I skimmed the related TechCrunch article and must have missed this, and a search for "diversity" only hit on the original mention. I stand corrected!
      - chrisco255 3y ago
        This is just an anecdote, not a meaningful statement. Housing has gotten expensive everywhere in the past few years. From 2010 to 2020, the latino population grew by 35%, the black population grew by 26% and the asian population grew by 96%. https://www.austinchamber.com/economic-development/austin-profile/population/population-by-race-hispanic-origin https://www.austinchamber.com/economic-development/austin-pr...
        cantSpellSober 3y ago
        Thanks I just meant that the article did address it. The ad for Austin you posted cites census statistics from 4 years ago, which are more meaningful, but not the topic, and they still show the city as majority white.
- fuzzfactor 3y ago
  >Lack of diversity is stated but never mentioned again. They wouln't say it if it wasn't false;) What can you say, compared to most other places in the USA? Looks like Houston is still the most diverse city in the US by many criteria: https://www.governing.com/community/houston-is-the-nations-most-diverse-city-report.html https://www.governing.com/community/houston-is-the-nations-m... The weather's usually hotter and far more humid than Austin, but still comfortable most of the year without air-conditioning for well-acclimated residents. Others need not apply.
ramijames 3y ago
I'm an experienced product designer with 25+ years of experience. I've been doing a job search across the US. I have three kids, two girls. I will never take them to a place like Texas. It is anathema to my core values as a person and as a parent. I'm shocked that a place like Texas became a draw for tech companies at all.
- gafage 3y ago
  And there must be people who feel exactly the opposite. As long as there are options then we can all be happy. I guess.
  - rewmie 3y ago
    > As long as there are options then we can all be happy. I guess. Oppressing others is really not about options. It's one thing to live your life according to your own beliefs and principles, but it's an entirely different thing to feel entitled to selectively impose them onto everyone around you.
    - gafage 3y ago
      [flagged]
      - rewmie 3y ago
        Your personal beliefs only apply to your decisions. You have no right to tell others how they should make personal and health-related decisions, specially as history shows that those tend to suddenly do 180s regarding their values once they are faced with the same issues everyone else faces.
- tester756 3y ago
  >It is anathema to my core values as a person and as a parent. What does it mean? (Im not from US)
  - 3y ago
silverbax88 3y ago
Headline states 'mass exodus', article names three known companies that never actually moved to Austin, then three unknown companies with no context of those companies' workforce or products. Texas has problems, but this isn't journalism.
- rewmie 3y ago
  > Headline states 'mass exodus', article names three known companies that never actually moved to Austin (...) I'm not sure which article you read, but the one linked to in this discussion mentions: * VMWare laying off 577 employees in Austin, * startup founders, like Techstars Managing Director Amos Schwartzfarb, announcing their decisions to leave Austin, * Meta dropping plans to move to Austin, * Google freezing plans to move to Austin, in spite of already paying rent. * TikTok not establishing plans to move to Austin in spite of already leasing office space, * Don Ward, the CEO of Laundris, announced he would be relocating his company to Tulsa, * Cart announced it was moving its headquarters out of Austin back to Houston, after spending little over 2 years. The article is solid journalism. It's a summary of individual news pieces which is tied together by observations from leaders of established companies over their decisions and economic forecasts.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
nunez 3y ago
> On Thursday, December 7, the cloud computing company, VMWare announced it was laying off 577 employees in Austin as part of a nationwide job reduction to cut costs, according to the Austin American-Statesman. That's not entirely accurate. Broadcom, VMware's new owner, is shuttering offices all over the country to consolidate with their existing office portfolio.

20 points by DogOfTheGaps 3y ago

To save you a click on this ad-infested website: It does cite a TechCrunch article: https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/07/is-the-texas-boom-town-of-austin-losing-its-luster/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/07/is-the-texas-boom-town-of-... The reason is "the rising cost of living, low funding, and lack of diversity".

j4yav 3y ago

I remember Miami was also going to be the new Silicon Valley at one point, did that end up doing any better?

maga_2020 3y ago
A hear-say: it has typical liberal-city corruption and crime issues, and, of course, with a very high cost of living in safer neighborhoods. Better for taxes if you are ultra-rich, but otherwise you will be commuting 1.5 hours into an office in Miami, if you want to live in house that you can afford, with nearby public school where your kid will not be bullied.

mberning 3y ago

Lack of diversity is stated but never mentioned again. Diversity of what is left to the readers interpretation. This reads like a hit piece rather than a genuine exploration of a real issue.

mathgeek 3y ago
It’s paraphrasing from the Techcrunch source mentioned in other comments: > The summers are brutal — 2023’s was the hottest on record with 78 days of triple-digit temperatures. The startup scene, some argue, is lackluster. And funding — especially for midsize companies — can be hard to come by. A perceived lack of diversity is also an issue.
- _heimdall 3y ago
  TechCrunch has the same problem of never again referencing this perceived diversity issue. They don't make clear what kind of diversity, who perceives it as missing, or if the perceived lack of diversity matches reality. Edit: ignore this! I didn't read the original TechCrunch article closely enough, it is mentioned later in the article as corrected in a following comment
  - cantSpellSober 3y ago
    No, that article goes on: > "The cost of living, especially housing, has made it more challenging for middle-class professionals — especially people of color — to buy into the market, which hurts startups that have to compete with the Googles and Teslas for talent,” said Spearman, who is Black. “The monoculture speaks more to the income disparity that is pricing out musicians, artists and hospitality workers who are so essential to the creative culture that makes Austin a great market for startup founders in the first place"
    - _heimdall 3y ago
      Oh thank you for this, I skimmed the related TechCrunch article and must have missed this, and a search for "diversity" only hit on the original mention. I stand corrected!
    - chrisco255 3y ago
      This is just an anecdote, not a meaningful statement. Housing has gotten expensive everywhere in the past few years. From 2010 to 2020, the latino population grew by 35%, the black population grew by 26% and the asian population grew by 96%. https://www.austinchamber.com/economic-development/austin-profile/population/population-by-race-hispanic-origin https://www.austinchamber.com/economic-development/austin-pr...
      - cantSpellSober 3y ago
        Thanks I just meant that the article did address it. The ad for Austin you posted cites census statistics from 4 years ago, which are more meaningful, but not the topic, and they still show the city as majority white.
fuzzfactor 3y ago
>Lack of diversity is stated but never mentioned again. They wouln't say it if it wasn't false;) What can you say, compared to most other places in the USA? Looks like Houston is still the most diverse city in the US by many criteria: https://www.governing.com/community/houston-is-the-nations-most-diverse-city-report.html https://www.governing.com/community/houston-is-the-nations-m... The weather's usually hotter and far more humid than Austin, but still comfortable most of the year without air-conditioning for well-acclimated residents. Others need not apply.

ramijames 3y ago

I'm an experienced product designer with 25+ years of experience. I've been doing a job search across the US. I have three kids, two girls. I will never take them to a place like Texas. It is anathema to my core values as a person and as a parent. I'm shocked that a place like Texas became a draw for tech companies at all.

gafage 3y ago
And there must be people who feel exactly the opposite. As long as there are options then we can all be happy. I guess.
- rewmie 3y ago
  > As long as there are options then we can all be happy. I guess. Oppressing others is really not about options. It's one thing to live your life according to your own beliefs and principles, but it's an entirely different thing to feel entitled to selectively impose them onto everyone around you.
  - gafage 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - rewmie 3y ago
      Your personal beliefs only apply to your decisions. You have no right to tell others how they should make personal and health-related decisions, specially as history shows that those tend to suddenly do 180s regarding their values once they are faced with the same issues everyone else faces.
tester756 3y ago
>It is anathema to my core values as a person and as a parent. What does it mean? (Im not from US)
- 3y ago

silverbax88 3y ago

Headline states 'mass exodus', article names three known companies that never actually moved to Austin, then three unknown companies with no context of those companies' workforce or products. Texas has problems, but this isn't journalism.

rewmie 3y ago
> Headline states 'mass exodus', article names three known companies that never actually moved to Austin (...) I'm not sure which article you read, but the one linked to in this discussion mentions: * VMWare laying off 577 employees in Austin, * startup founders, like Techstars Managing Director Amos Schwartzfarb, announcing their decisions to leave Austin, * Meta dropping plans to move to Austin, * Google freezing plans to move to Austin, in spite of already paying rent. * TikTok not establishing plans to move to Austin in spite of already leasing office space, * Don Ward, the CEO of Laundris, announced he would be relocating his company to Tulsa, * Cart announced it was moving its headquarters out of Austin back to Houston, after spending little over 2 years. The article is solid journalism. It's a summary of individual news pieces which is tied together by observations from leaders of established companies over their decisions and economic forecasts.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

nunez 3y ago

> On Thursday, December 7, the cloud computing company, VMWare announced it was laying off 577 employees in Austin as part of a nationwide job reduction to cut costs, according to the Austin American-Statesman. That's not entirely accurate. Broadcom, VMware's new owner, is shuttering offices all over the country to consolidate with their existing office portfolio.