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By all measures, the RTP area of North Carolina should be growing startups and growing massively large companies with the best of them. UNC, Duke, NC State + d

by edahan 18y ago

By all measures, the RTP area of North Carolina should be growing startups and growing massively large companies with the best of them. UNC, Duke, NC State + dozens of smaller colleges/universities within a one hour drive provide a very well educated work force. An existing network of colleges exist within a several hour drive (Wake Forest, etc.) The financial center (hopefully things will return to at least "functioning") of Charlotte is a day trip in a car. Washington D.C., Atlanta and New York are airplane day trips and Boston, Chicago and Miami are overnight trips away. Attracting constant attention from traditional VC funds is not a problem. There is a strong base of both Tech and Life Sciences companies in RTP. This base can provide everything from internal skunk works within these companies to employees leaving to create startups. The weather ain't all that bad - for the East Coast. So - what is the real problem - it isn't money. The problem can be found in passivity, complacency and parochialism. I was once told (by a Silicon Valley born and bred person), "everyone has their prejudices - but these folks (around RTP) actually let that get in the way of making money." The Silicon Valley is not filled with folks singing "Kumbaya" - but it is filled with folks who are more than willing to put aside whatever personal feelings they may have if there is a buck to be made. One of the most prominent venture capitalists in the RTP region once said (in private) that all the "entrepreneurs" around here are hoping that one day they can afford a nice beach house on the Coast, instead of . . . . being entrepreneurs. Nope - RTP is an example - it isn't only about the money. It's really about the people. BUT - money for seed/startup development is essential. Funding startups shouldn't come from the government - it should come from a For Profit Seed/Startup fund that works with, supports and Compensates the Seed Infrastructure (incubators, tech transfers, economic development agencies). The Seed Infrastructure should not concentrate on being landlords, academicians or civil servants. The Seed Infrastructure should concentrate on sourcing, screening and providing post Seed investment oversight for companies that will ultimately be worthy of traditional Series A investments. And remember, this Seed Infrastructure is, for the most part,already funded by local/state governments, academia and corporate sponsorships. The idea of simply throwing money into a broken system won't work. The idea of expecting the traditional VC stage of the Risk Investing industry to innovate or nurture is fallacious. Regardless of what Alan Patricof said in his NYTimes article - VCs don't nurture. VCs provide growth capital for those Seed/Startup enterprises which have reached a level of traction and validation. Thomas Friedman was even more delusional with his idea of giving 20 VC firms $1 billion each to generate innovation. All you are going to get by giving VCs $20 billion is somewhere between $2-$2.5 billion in management fees for the VC firms. I do not know how you can generate an "entrepreneur" mentality in a short time - after all, even the success of Noyce and Friends took a while to take hold after they left Fairchild to start Intel. But, I do know the way to start - please read (and feel free to comment) - http://www.slideshare.net/ElliottDahan/start-fund-feb2009 http://www.slideshare.net/ElliottDahan/start-fund-feb2009 Elliott Dahan The Growth Group elliott(a)thegrowthgroup.com

tom4370 18y ago
As a MS grad of the UNC CS department who has spent time working with researchers at both Duke and NC State, it's interesting to me to think about why we don't have a thriving startup culture. I certainly know people who have gone through those programs, stayed in the area, and are interested in startups (as both founders and places to work). My perspective (which clearly can't cover all the students in those programs or hackers in the area) is that a small number of successful (ie, more profitable for the founders than taking a job with IBM, Fidelity - before the layoffs, NVidia, SRA, SAS, or one of the other, non-tech focused companies in the area that suck up tech grads) would go an extremely long way in jump-starting a startup culture. Heck, I wonder if semi-decent mentorship for founders from people who actually got something out-the-door would be more helpful than just having some VC opening the checkbook. I always think of SV as kind of nirvana, where joining a startup with some decent chance of being successful is much more a normal story than it would be here in RTP. I think a big part of the lack of a startup culture here is that people create interesting software, but then kind of sputter out on getting it in front of people. Maybe RTP has the tech talent to be a startup hub, but lacks a local and cutting edge,technically-driven customer base? Or the critical mass of like-minded founders is what we desperately need as pg speculates in his essay? Certainly the focus at the big three universities isn't on startups . . . All that said, in my peer group, several people have gone on to work at small, startup type companies in RTP. But it seems like the common story here for hackers who "make" it are ones that seem to involve consulting for one of the bigger companies in the area or maybe less commonly developing software in 1 or 2 man shops on a custom basis (ie, roll-your-own ERPs and whatnot) for comfortable income. I think RTP is getting closer to being more startup-oriented, but we (the area and hackers in it) need to be more driven in becoming entrepreneurs. But I don't hear hackers in RTP say anything about being satisfied with a nice beach house . . . I'm not defending the RTP hackers too strongly here because I do think we are missing some critical piece of what a startup culture needs but I'm not sure we can chalk it up to "passivity, complacency, and parochialism." I would love to hear other thoughts from HN readers in RTP or with connections to it (ie, did you do school here and head to SV?).
- edahan 18y ago
  Tom4370 - you write - "Heck, I wonder if semi-decent mentorship for founders from people who actually got something out-the-door would be more helpful than just having some VC opening the checkbook." . . . .Yes ! The CED should have offered this hands-on mentorship program for entrepreneurs. And I am not talking about another conference or speaker series or fraternity mixer.. . . .very disappointing. And "yes" - there is a very strong talent pool of techie folks, business folks and support folks (one of the nicest people I know is actually a Lawyer - Fred Hutchison). As for "customer base" - 2 points - RTP, depending on your sector has a strong customer base. But,the necessary proximity of the customer base is more dependent upon what you ar doing, who can introduce you, etc. And finally, my comments about "passivity, complacency, and parochialism" were not directed at just the entrepreneur base - if anything, it was directed at the VC base, the Incubator base and the Mentorship base you mention in your comment above. Entrepreneurs will be entrepreneurs and work hard and innovate and . . . . . only if the rest of the Seed Community around them gives them a good reason to be Entrepreneurs.

by edahan 18y ago

tom4370 18y ago

As a MS grad of the UNC CS department who has spent time working with researchers at both Duke and NC State, it's interesting to me to think about why we don't have a thriving startup culture. I certainly know people who have gone through those programs, stayed in the area, and are interested in startups (as both founders and places to work). My perspective (which clearly can't cover all the students in those programs or hackers in the area) is that a small number of successful (ie, more profitable for the founders than taking a job with IBM, Fidelity - before the layoffs, NVidia, SRA, SAS, or one of the other, non-tech focused companies in the area that suck up tech grads) would go an extremely long way in jump-starting a startup culture. Heck, I wonder if semi-decent mentorship for founders from people who actually got something out-the-door would be more helpful than just having some VC opening the checkbook. I always think of SV as kind of nirvana, where joining a startup with some decent chance of being successful is much more a normal story than it would be here in RTP. I think a big part of the lack of a startup culture here is that people create interesting software, but then kind of sputter out on getting it in front of people. Maybe RTP has the tech talent to be a startup hub, but lacks a local and cutting edge,technically-driven customer base? Or the critical mass of like-minded founders is what we desperately need as pg speculates in his essay? Certainly the focus at the big three universities isn't on startups . . . All that said, in my peer group, several people have gone on to work at small, startup type companies in RTP. But it seems like the common story here for hackers who "make" it are ones that seem to involve consulting for one of the bigger companies in the area or maybe less commonly developing software in 1 or 2 man shops on a custom basis (ie, roll-your-own ERPs and whatnot) for comfortable income. I think RTP is getting closer to being more startup-oriented, but we (the area and hackers in it) need to be more driven in becoming entrepreneurs. But I don't hear hackers in RTP say anything about being satisfied with a nice beach house . . . I'm not defending the RTP hackers too strongly here because I do think we are missing some critical piece of what a startup culture needs but I'm not sure we can chalk it up to "passivity, complacency, and parochialism." I would love to hear other thoughts from HN readers in RTP or with connections to it (ie, did you do school here and head to SV?).

edahan 18y ago
Tom4370 - you write - "Heck, I wonder if semi-decent mentorship for founders from people who actually got something out-the-door would be more helpful than just having some VC opening the checkbook." . . . .Yes ! The CED should have offered this hands-on mentorship program for entrepreneurs. And I am not talking about another conference or speaker series or fraternity mixer.. . . .very disappointing. And "yes" - there is a very strong talent pool of techie folks, business folks and support folks (one of the nicest people I know is actually a Lawyer - Fred Hutchison). As for "customer base" - 2 points - RTP, depending on your sector has a strong customer base. But,the necessary proximity of the customer base is more dependent upon what you ar doing, who can introduce you, etc. And finally, my comments about "passivity, complacency, and parochialism" were not directed at just the entrepreneur base - if anything, it was directed at the VC base, the Incubator base and the Mentorship base you mention in your comment above. Entrepreneurs will be entrepreneurs and work hard and innovate and . . . . . only if the rest of the Seed Community around them gives them a good reason to be Entrepreneurs.