4 ms·

I'd personally pick Austin if I were looking for an already established major tech hub that is not one of the coasts. It's got a fun atmosphere too, lots of mus

by api 13y ago

I'd personally pick Austin if I were looking for an already established major tech hub that is not one of the coasts. It's got a fun atmosphere too, lots of music and good night life. I would also look at Atlanta, Boulder, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit. The latter is a really interesting contrarian pick: ultra-cheap real estate, neat history, and an interesting subculture of hacker/maker types. http://www.omnicorpdetroit.com http://www.omnicorpdetroit.com Its dangerous reputation is mostly just reputation, but don't leave valuables in your car. Vehicle smash-and-grab crime is very high.

wavefunction 13y ago
Austin's changing and we have plenty of people more interested in the douchey vc tech scene than building cool products. The cost of living is (for now) cheaper than SV or NYC but housing is hard to come by and the live music scene is getting pushed out of its old stomping grounds by luxury condos every freaking block.
- api 13y ago
  Real estate hyperinflation is really, really damaging to a city's culture.
c0nsumer 13y ago
The Detroit area in general is a pretty fine place to live. Good food, loads of great things to do outdoors (if that's your thing) which varies wildly by season, and it's quite cheap to live. It's very car-centric and owning one is practically required to get around, but if you're fine with that it's pretty all right.
aswanson 13y ago
I'd advise to stay the fuck away from philly. There is no startup energy in this area.
- aswanson 13y ago
  ATL probably not a good choice either, Yellowjackets notwithstanding.
- tmcneal 13y ago
  As another data point, I've found Philly to have a lively and close-knit startup culture, albeit much smaller than NYC and SV. Gabe Weinberg (founder of DuckDuckGo) keeps an on-going list of links related to the Philly startup scene: http://foundedinphilly.com http://foundedinphilly.com I'd be curious to hear what ways you think Philly can improve.
  - aswanson 13y ago
    Cool, I'm familiar with Gabe and salute his efforts. The city badly needs him/them. I was born in the city and went to college there so I hope it can become greater than what it is. The main thing, imho, that needs to happen, is to get the word out amongst college-aged people in the area and the attraction of more venture funding. The general attitude of the people there is what pg refers to in one of his essay's as the 'default'; graduate and work in a large corporation. This formula is not working anymore and the startup attitude needs to affect Philly and the rest of the country proportionally to the new state of affairs.
cinquemb 13y ago
I'm hoping one day to live in detroit. I keep hearing cool things going on there (even in other fields such as urban ag) so that potential mixed in with the actually livable real estate (It's sickening up here in NYC just listening to friends talk about how much rent is for what they are getting), and I wouldn't call myself a contrarian but I definitely one to try to find even if that means if I'm taking pieces here and there of others ways. Eh, first things first… un jour…
- geogra4 13y ago
  Detroit is just unreal. I live here and am constantly amazed by the place. It's different from the rest of America in just about every single way.
  - michaelochurch 13y ago
    Curiosity piqued. Explain. Good or bad?
    - geogra4 13y ago
      Some good, some bad. On the bad side, there is still this feeling of lingering racism throughout the entire area. The city itself is very poor, with the exception of a few neighborhoods. And outside of those stable/safe neighborhoods (and even within them to some degree), the city has this vast feeling of emptiness. Like it's Berlin after the bombings but everyone left. Real Estate values are so low that you literally have one guy (Dan Gilbert) building his own Delta City downtown. It's not a bad thing to have a billionaire so committed to making a great downtown, just a little odd and strange that no other regional wealth holders have really stepped up. Gilbert is doing his damnedest to make Detroit a place favorable for start-up entrepreneurs. He's associated with groups like TechTown, Detroit Venture Partners, and BizDom U. There's also a pretty reasonably sized 'old-school' tech economy here from the auto industry. IBM, HP and Microsoft have big offices in the suburbs. Lots of people here work on mainframes, industrial HR software, factory automation, and the like. If you want to make software that has effects on real physical objects, no better place to do it than here. On the good side you will never find a more committed group of people than those who are working to make Detroit better. Groups like the Detroit Mower Gang and the Hub of Detroit are great. It's pretty inspiring what many of these groups are doing. Architecturally, Detroit is absolutely astounding. For the price of a 1br in San Francisco or Manhattan you can purchase yourself a beautiful mansion that your friends on the coasts could only dream of. At one point Detroit was referred to as the 'paris of the midwest', and it really shows in the buildings that remain. You probably won't ever have to worry about a lack of affordable housing. If you are looking for some international flavor, Canada is just across the border and Detroit is ~4 hours drive (or a train ride) from both Chicago and Toronto. The region also has the largest Arab population in the USA. As well as large Japanese, Indian, Korean, Mexican and Vietnamese population centers. Detroit isn't like other cities where the people in the region associate with the Central city. Philly and Baltimore have bad reps but people in Montgomery County or Baltimore County still defend their city. Up until recently (and still in the older generation) many people in the suburbs of Detroit simply don't care about the Central City, and actually take pleasure in seeing it burn. Regionally, the greater Detroit area's economy is actually pretty ok. It's just that none (or very little) of that wealth made it through to the city. So that's my spiel on Detroit.
paulhauggis 13y ago
"Its dangerous reputation is mostly just reputation, but don't leave valuables in your car. Vehicle smash-and-grab crime is very high." It has a dangerous reputation for a reason. Detroit hasn't really been safe for 10+ years. I lived in the area for 25+. Nearly everyone I know that lived in or around the city was held up, saw gun crime, or mugged. I know two people that were shot in the middle of the day for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily, neither of them were fatal. Another issue is that if you do have an emergency, the police/ambulance most likely won't get to you for many hours. If you want a good tech scene, pick a city like Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids.
- geogra4 13y ago
  Where did they live? My parents have friends who've lived in Woodbridge for 20+ years and have never had a problem. I've found Ann Arbor to be sort of obnoxiously pretentious and expensive for what it is.

by api 13y ago

wavefunction 13y ago

Austin's changing and we have plenty of people more interested in the douchey vc tech scene than building cool products. The cost of living is (for now) cheaper than SV or NYC but housing is hard to come by and the live music scene is getting pushed out of its old stomping grounds by luxury condos every freaking block.

api 13y ago
Real estate hyperinflation is really, really damaging to a city's culture.

c0nsumer 13y ago

The Detroit area in general is a pretty fine place to live. Good food, loads of great things to do outdoors (if that's your thing) which varies wildly by season, and it's quite cheap to live. It's very car-centric and owning one is practically required to get around, but if you're fine with that it's pretty all right.

aswanson 13y ago

I'd advise to stay the fuck away from philly. There is no startup energy in this area.

aswanson 13y ago
ATL probably not a good choice either, Yellowjackets notwithstanding.
tmcneal 13y ago
As another data point, I've found Philly to have a lively and close-knit startup culture, albeit much smaller than NYC and SV. Gabe Weinberg (founder of DuckDuckGo) keeps an on-going list of links related to the Philly startup scene: http://foundedinphilly.com http://foundedinphilly.com I'd be curious to hear what ways you think Philly can improve.
- aswanson 13y ago
  Cool, I'm familiar with Gabe and salute his efforts. The city badly needs him/them. I was born in the city and went to college there so I hope it can become greater than what it is. The main thing, imho, that needs to happen, is to get the word out amongst college-aged people in the area and the attraction of more venture funding. The general attitude of the people there is what pg refers to in one of his essay's as the 'default'; graduate and work in a large corporation. This formula is not working anymore and the startup attitude needs to affect Philly and the rest of the country proportionally to the new state of affairs.

cinquemb 13y ago

I'm hoping one day to live in detroit. I keep hearing cool things going on there (even in other fields such as urban ag) so that potential mixed in with the actually livable real estate (It's sickening up here in NYC just listening to friends talk about how much rent is for what they are getting), and I wouldn't call myself a contrarian but I definitely one to try to find even if that means if I'm taking pieces here and there of others ways. Eh, first things first… un jour…

geogra4 13y ago
Detroit is just unreal. I live here and am constantly amazed by the place. It's different from the rest of America in just about every single way.
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  Curiosity piqued. Explain. Good or bad?
  - geogra4 13y ago
    Some good, some bad. On the bad side, there is still this feeling of lingering racism throughout the entire area. The city itself is very poor, with the exception of a few neighborhoods. And outside of those stable/safe neighborhoods (and even within them to some degree), the city has this vast feeling of emptiness. Like it's Berlin after the bombings but everyone left. Real Estate values are so low that you literally have one guy (Dan Gilbert) building his own Delta City downtown. It's not a bad thing to have a billionaire so committed to making a great downtown, just a little odd and strange that no other regional wealth holders have really stepped up. Gilbert is doing his damnedest to make Detroit a place favorable for start-up entrepreneurs. He's associated with groups like TechTown, Detroit Venture Partners, and BizDom U. There's also a pretty reasonably sized 'old-school' tech economy here from the auto industry. IBM, HP and Microsoft have big offices in the suburbs. Lots of people here work on mainframes, industrial HR software, factory automation, and the like. If you want to make software that has effects on real physical objects, no better place to do it than here. On the good side you will never find a more committed group of people than those who are working to make Detroit better. Groups like the Detroit Mower Gang and the Hub of Detroit are great. It's pretty inspiring what many of these groups are doing. Architecturally, Detroit is absolutely astounding. For the price of a 1br in San Francisco or Manhattan you can purchase yourself a beautiful mansion that your friends on the coasts could only dream of. At one point Detroit was referred to as the 'paris of the midwest', and it really shows in the buildings that remain. You probably won't ever have to worry about a lack of affordable housing. If you are looking for some international flavor, Canada is just across the border and Detroit is ~4 hours drive (or a train ride) from both Chicago and Toronto. The region also has the largest Arab population in the USA. As well as large Japanese, Indian, Korean, Mexican and Vietnamese population centers. Detroit isn't like other cities where the people in the region associate with the Central city. Philly and Baltimore have bad reps but people in Montgomery County or Baltimore County still defend their city. Up until recently (and still in the older generation) many people in the suburbs of Detroit simply don't care about the Central City, and actually take pleasure in seeing it burn. Regionally, the greater Detroit area's economy is actually pretty ok. It's just that none (or very little) of that wealth made it through to the city. So that's my spiel on Detroit.

paulhauggis 13y ago

"Its dangerous reputation is mostly just reputation, but don't leave valuables in your car. Vehicle smash-and-grab crime is very high." It has a dangerous reputation for a reason. Detroit hasn't really been safe for 10+ years. I lived in the area for 25+. Nearly everyone I know that lived in or around the city was held up, saw gun crime, or mugged. I know two people that were shot in the middle of the day for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily, neither of them were fatal. Another issue is that if you do have an emergency, the police/ambulance most likely won't get to you for many hours. If you want a good tech scene, pick a city like Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids.

geogra4 13y ago
Where did they live? My parents have friends who've lived in Woodbridge for 20+ years and have never had a problem. I've found Ann Arbor to be sort of obnoxiously pretentious and expensive for what it is.