6 ms·

Why High-Tech Companies Are Moving to the City

52 points by iProject 14y ago

001sky 14y ago
At the same time, high-tech products and industries are more multidisciplinary than they used to be. Success often requires excellence in more than one field of technology and in other lines of business. East London's tech scene is led not by tech firms per se but by "digital creative" companies that combine computer technology with music, art and narrative—and musicians, artists and writers cluster in cities.
rm999 14y ago
I just moved to NYC from California a year ago. In many ways my quality of life has shot way up. You can't beat the transportation, food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population. Cities are perfect for attracting the kind of young, interesting, and smart people tech companies want to attract. Also, tech companies are often capable of generating relatively high profit per employee; for these companies, the biggest downside of a city (cost) is not as big of an issue.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  > I just moved to NYC from California a year ago. In many ways my quality of life has shot way up. You can't beat the transportation, food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population. I concede that NYC has the best public transportation in the country, but you must have been living in the sticks in California if you think that you can't find "food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population" there.
  - carterschonwald 14y ago
    Not needing a Car is the the distinction here though.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      Then he should've said only that, and not the other things. I already conceded that public transportation was better in NYC.
      - rayiner 14y ago
        The transportation issue permeates everything though. Culture is only available if it is accessible. My parents live in Northern VA, and they've got tons of culture around, in theory: museums in DC, great ethnic food in Arlington, etc. But in practice it's a such a huge pain in the ass to get anywhere that the actual culture available to them is total whitewashed suburban dreck.
        deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
        carterschonwald 14y ago
        exactly! Also a secondary upside for the younger set is that 24/7 good public transit is a lot safer for those folks to travel late at night.
  - cncool 14y ago
    He didn't say he couldn't find "food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population" there.
  - michaelt 14y ago
    Culture depends on travel distance - everywhere can claim to have culture if you're willing to drive far enough. The only claim to culture that Mountain View or Cupertino has is being within driving distance of San Francisco.
    - rachelbythebay 14y ago
      Culture is more than the petri dish of your city's sidewalks. There is life outside of the 415.
    - anamax 14y ago
      > The only claim to culture that Mountain View or Cupertino has is being within driving distance of San Francisco. That's true iff you define culture as opera and symphony and certain kinds of museums. If your definition includes things that one might find in SF's mission district and/or Chinatown, there's culture all over the southbay. For some definitions, Berkeley is the only place in the bay area that "has culture". For others, Oakland is it. FWIW, there are reasonable definitions of "culture" that can't be satisfied in the US.
      - Retric 14y ago
        I can't think of any. PS: Assuming native american cultures are included as part of the US.
      - michaelt 14y ago
        For sure, everywhere has culture if your definition of culture is sufficiently malleable. To me moving from California to New York for culture makes sense, for a lot of locations in California. Perhaps instead of saying you can't beat New York for culture, I should say I can't beat New York for culture!
        anamax 14y ago
        > For sure, everywhere has culture if your definition of culture is sufficiently malleable. That's not what I wrote. I wrote that different folks think that culture means different things, not that those folks have a changing definition of culture. I get that you like NYC. However, I'll bet that you don't actually take advantage of the culture that you find essential all that often. You're paying for the ability to drop in on a broadway show every day even though you'll likely do it only once every 3-5 years. I'm glad that you think that you're getting value for your money. How about being respectful of other people's choices wrt their money?
  - Mvandenbergh 14y ago
    Some things are also just a matter of taste. If you're really into theatre for instance, it's hard to beat NYC. If you don't care about that but you really hate cold weather then obviously you're going to choose differently!
  - rm999 14y ago
    I never said you can't find those things in California, nor did I even ever directly compare any city in California with NYC. "Can't beat" is an idiom, it means I think those things are pretty awesome in NYC :)
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - eternalban 14y ago
    http://mlink.20x200.com/view/503d2c2fdc87ac0b4f19128alyyl.v2u/c2eec6c2?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=brooklyn http://mlink.20x200.com/view/503d2c2fdc87ac0b4f19128alyyl.v2... Can't beat means it sets the standard.
- hnwh 14y ago
  Which part of CA were you living in? Thinking of making a similar move
- carterschonwald 14y ago
  Fact, thats why I'm working in NYC as I get WellPosed off the ground :) That plus I'm a native. I have to say one fun upside to NYC is that theres lots of interesting smart folks (both young and old) doing cool stuff that isn't just "website as a business". The wee coworking space I use is especially fun because I'm surrounded by smart young pros doing high end work in design , architecture, fashion, etc. Variety is good for the brain, especially when designing numerical algorithms all day :)
- dohko 14y ago
  I am actually thinking on doing the opposite move. NYC is great If you earn a lot of money and don't mind spending it. Also everything that is a commodity elsewhere, in NYC is a luxury. (A car, washers and dryer, etc.). It's also unbelievably overcrowded. In the end it can be tons of fun, but if you like good weather, less crowded, cheaper places and more laid back relaxed environments then NYC is not the right place. I would much rather prefer san Francisco or Santa Monica
Tiktaalik 14y ago
Everyone is moving back to the city. In Vancouver there was a long gap where there was no commercial building development in the downtown core, and there was even a short period where they were converting commercial buildings to residential, but there is a significant amount of commercial construction now. The western Canadian telecom Telus is building[1] a new HQ downtown and is moving there from their current building in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The Telus Garden complex will have a residential component as well, and their employees were offered priority and a bit of a deal on units in it. It sold out pretty much instantly.[2] [1]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/property-report/a-garden-in-the-sky-in-the-heart-of-vancouver/article4179465/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-n... [2]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/teluss-vancouver-condos-fly-off-the-market/article4098423/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/teluss-...
nugget 14y ago
What happens when residential prices rise so high that you price out many of the same employees who created the critical mass and desire for this urban environment in the first place? How do you recruit a software dev @ $100k/yr when the 1 bedroom SoMa apartment they want costs $3k/month (~ $40k/yr fully loaded, or 50%+ of their take home pay)?
- rm999 14y ago
  In most cities people can find much cheaper places to live within commuting distance. Cities can't support themselves when people are totally priced out. For example, I know someone who lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn and pays <600/month (with roommates), and another in a studio for 1200/month. Bushwick is about 30 minutes from Soho by subway.
  - eternalban 14y ago
    Bushwick rocks. Stinks, but it is the best hood in the city. However it is not very techie. Great art scene.
  - dangrover 14y ago
    I second this. I was in Bushwick when I lived in NYC. I saw 1-bedrooms going for 1200. I moved to the UES after that, and found that the Manhattan tax really isn't worth it.
natrius 14y ago
Here's another data point from Austin: “Recruiting and retaining great workers is a big part of it, and downtown is where the development and design community wants to work,” said co-founder and CEO Sam Decker. “Startups don’t want the typical Class A, everything carpeted environment. They love character in their office and a place that feels unique. This is an opportunity to have a place where people look forward to coming to work every day just because of that vibe.” http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/startups/entries/2012/08/27/austin_startup_mass_relevance.html http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/aust...
williamcotton 14y ago
These are not high-tech companies. These are interactive media companies.
- theorique 14y ago
  What's the key distinction between a high-tech company and an interactive media company? Many of the latter have emerged as quite innovative in their use and/or creation of emerging software technologies and tools.
- KevinMS 14y ago
  I agree. These are companies that just duct-tap together high tech, made by others. High tech companies are IBM, Intel, Sun, Oracle, etc, and those are firmly planted outside cities. A good rule of thumb is if the company consists mostly of 20 something hipsters, its not a high-tech company :)
samratjp 14y ago
Here's an under rated reason - a night owl's schedule! Tech startup founders and early teams get most of their shit done at night when there are fewer or no distractions. When you're on this schedule, the city life is much more accommodating in terms of food, socialization, etc. Then suddenly, dinner time is suddenly like lunch time.
- Firehed 14y ago
  Living in a city does not lend itself well to getting stuff done at night "when there are no distractions" precisely because those environments provide those nighttime distractions. Early founder schedules tend to be necessarily isolating. Once you're to the point of having employees and semi-sane work hours, then the rest tends to be personal preference because you can once again coexist with the rest of the world.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

52 points by iProject 14y ago

At the same time, high-tech products and industries are more multidisciplinary than they used to be. Success often requires excellence in more than one field of technology and in other lines of business. East London's tech scene is led not by tech firms per se but by "digital creative" companies that combine computer technology with music, art and narrative—and musicians, artists and writers cluster in cities.

rm999 14y ago

I just moved to NYC from California a year ago. In many ways my quality of life has shot way up. You can't beat the transportation, food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population. Cities are perfect for attracting the kind of young, interesting, and smart people tech companies want to attract. Also, tech companies are often capable of generating relatively high profit per employee; for these companies, the biggest downside of a city (cost) is not as big of an issue.

w1ntermute 14y ago
> I just moved to NYC from California a year ago. In many ways my quality of life has shot way up. You can't beat the transportation, food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population. I concede that NYC has the best public transportation in the country, but you must have been living in the sticks in California if you think that you can't find "food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population" there.
- carterschonwald 14y ago
  Not needing a Car is the the distinction here though.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    Then he should've said only that, and not the other things. I already conceded that public transportation was better in NYC.
    - rayiner 14y ago
      The transportation issue permeates everything though. Culture is only available if it is accessible. My parents live in Northern VA, and they've got tons of culture around, in theory: museums in DC, great ethnic food in Arlington, etc. But in practice it's a such a huge pain in the ass to get anywhere that the actual culture available to them is total whitewashed suburban dreck.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - carterschonwald 14y ago
        exactly! Also a secondary upside for the younger set is that 24/7 good public transit is a lot safer for those folks to travel late at night.
- cncool 14y ago
  He didn't say he couldn't find "food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population" there.
- michaelt 14y ago
  Culture depends on travel distance - everywhere can claim to have culture if you're willing to drive far enough. The only claim to culture that Mountain View or Cupertino has is being within driving distance of San Francisco.
  - rachelbythebay 14y ago
    Culture is more than the petri dish of your city's sidewalks. There is life outside of the 415.
  - anamax 14y ago
    > The only claim to culture that Mountain View or Cupertino has is being within driving distance of San Francisco. That's true iff you define culture as opera and symphony and certain kinds of museums. If your definition includes things that one might find in SF's mission district and/or Chinatown, there's culture all over the southbay. For some definitions, Berkeley is the only place in the bay area that "has culture". For others, Oakland is it. FWIW, there are reasonable definitions of "culture" that can't be satisfied in the US.
    - Retric 14y ago
      I can't think of any. PS: Assuming native american cultures are included as part of the US.
    - michaelt 14y ago
      For sure, everywhere has culture if your definition of culture is sufficiently malleable. To me moving from California to New York for culture makes sense, for a lot of locations in California. Perhaps instead of saying you can't beat New York for culture, I should say I can't beat New York for culture!
      - anamax 14y ago
        > For sure, everywhere has culture if your definition of culture is sufficiently malleable. That's not what I wrote. I wrote that different folks think that culture means different things, not that those folks have a changing definition of culture. I get that you like NYC. However, I'll bet that you don't actually take advantage of the culture that you find essential all that often. You're paying for the ability to drop in on a broadway show every day even though you'll likely do it only once every 3-5 years. I'm glad that you think that you're getting value for your money. How about being respectful of other people's choices wrt their money?
- Mvandenbergh 14y ago
  Some things are also just a matter of taste. If you're really into theatre for instance, it's hard to beat NYC. If you don't care about that but you really hate cold weather then obviously you're going to choose differently!
- rm999 14y ago
  I never said you can't find those things in California, nor did I even ever directly compare any city in California with NYC. "Can't beat" is an idiom, it means I think those things are pretty awesome in NYC :)
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- eternalban 14y ago
  http://mlink.20x200.com/view/503d2c2fdc87ac0b4f19128alyyl.v2u/c2eec6c2?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=brooklyn http://mlink.20x200.com/view/503d2c2fdc87ac0b4f19128alyyl.v2... Can't beat means it sets the standard.
hnwh 14y ago
Which part of CA were you living in? Thinking of making a similar move
carterschonwald 14y ago
Fact, thats why I'm working in NYC as I get WellPosed off the ground :) That plus I'm a native. I have to say one fun upside to NYC is that theres lots of interesting smart folks (both young and old) doing cool stuff that isn't just "website as a business". The wee coworking space I use is especially fun because I'm surrounded by smart young pros doing high end work in design , architecture, fashion, etc. Variety is good for the brain, especially when designing numerical algorithms all day :)
dohko 14y ago
I am actually thinking on doing the opposite move. NYC is great If you earn a lot of money and don't mind spending it. Also everything that is a commodity elsewhere, in NYC is a luxury. (A car, washers and dryer, etc.). It's also unbelievably overcrowded. In the end it can be tons of fun, but if you like good weather, less crowded, cheaper places and more laid back relaxed environments then NYC is not the right place. I would much rather prefer san Francisco or Santa Monica

Tiktaalik 14y ago

Everyone is moving back to the city. In Vancouver there was a long gap where there was no commercial building development in the downtown core, and there was even a short period where they were converting commercial buildings to residential, but there is a significant amount of commercial construction now. The western Canadian telecom Telus is building[1] a new HQ downtown and is moving there from their current building in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The Telus Garden complex will have a residential component as well, and their employees were offered priority and a bit of a deal on units in it. It sold out pretty much instantly.[2] [1]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/property-report/a-garden-in-the-sky-in-the-heart-of-vancouver/article4179465/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-n... [2]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/teluss-vancouver-condos-fly-off-the-market/article4098423/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/teluss-...

nugget 14y ago

What happens when residential prices rise so high that you price out many of the same employees who created the critical mass and desire for this urban environment in the first place? How do you recruit a software dev @ $100k/yr when the 1 bedroom SoMa apartment they want costs $3k/month (~ $40k/yr fully loaded, or 50%+ of their take home pay)?

rm999 14y ago
In most cities people can find much cheaper places to live within commuting distance. Cities can't support themselves when people are totally priced out. For example, I know someone who lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn and pays <600/month (with roommates), and another in a studio for 1200/month. Bushwick is about 30 minutes from Soho by subway.
- eternalban 14y ago
  Bushwick rocks. Stinks, but it is the best hood in the city. However it is not very techie. Great art scene.
- dangrover 14y ago
  I second this. I was in Bushwick when I lived in NYC. I saw 1-bedrooms going for 1200. I moved to the UES after that, and found that the Manhattan tax really isn't worth it.

natrius 14y ago

Here's another data point from Austin: “Recruiting and retaining great workers is a big part of it, and downtown is where the development and design community wants to work,” said co-founder and CEO Sam Decker. “Startups don’t want the typical Class A, everything carpeted environment. They love character in their office and a place that feels unique. This is an opportunity to have a place where people look forward to coming to work every day just because of that vibe.” http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/startups/entries/2012/08/27/austin_startup_mass_relevance.html http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/aust...

williamcotton 14y ago

These are not high-tech companies. These are interactive media companies.

theorique 14y ago
What's the key distinction between a high-tech company and an interactive media company? Many of the latter have emerged as quite innovative in their use and/or creation of emerging software technologies and tools.
KevinMS 14y ago
I agree. These are companies that just duct-tap together high tech, made by others. High tech companies are IBM, Intel, Sun, Oracle, etc, and those are firmly planted outside cities. A good rule of thumb is if the company consists mostly of 20 something hipsters, its not a high-tech company :)

samratjp 14y ago

Here's an under rated reason - a night owl's schedule! Tech startup founders and early teams get most of their shit done at night when there are fewer or no distractions. When you're on this schedule, the city life is much more accommodating in terms of food, socialization, etc. Then suddenly, dinner time is suddenly like lunch time.

Firehed 14y ago
Living in a city does not lend itself well to getting stuff done at night "when there are no distractions" precisely because those environments provide those nighttime distractions. Early founder schedules tend to be necessarily isolating. Once you're to the point of having employees and semi-sane work hours, then the rest tends to be personal preference because you can once again coexist with the rest of the world.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]