Thank you for writing this. I've been putting some considerable energy lately into trying to grow a startup culture in my area (Grass Valley, Sierra Foothills)

Thank you for writing this. I've been putting some considerable energy lately into trying to grow a startup culture in my area (Grass Valley, Sierra Foothills) out of thin air. To date that has involved launching a co-working space, founding a "solopreneurs" organization, and beginning to pitch the benefits of startup culture to local investors and shakers/movers. I'm not looking to compete with Silicon Valley -- for reasons that you and others have pointed out, I don't think that's possible -- but I do think that we can create our own unique version of it. We're geographically isolated by two small arterial highways, there is a lot of scenic beauty and outdoor activities, and there is a strong push to localize products and services. There's also a healthy respect for technology here -- Atari was a prominent figure here back in its early days, Grass Valley Group engineers top-of-the-line video equipment, Spectrum Sensors & Controls builds various motors and potentiometers for government and high-tech applications, and the local cities are keen to attract more high-tech companies. For those reasons and others, I think there's a chance of incubating a small but successful startup environment here. So although on the face of it what you wrote would suggest that it can't be done here, I think it also indirectly provides some support for it.