3 ms·

If it is just investment which is mostly fucked, Utah seems like an awesome place for a raised-money-in-SFBA company to have a second office and hire a lot of d

by rdl 13y ago

If it is just investment which is mostly fucked, Utah seems like an awesome place for a raised-money-in-SFBA company to have a second office and hire a lot of developers. If they're committed to Utah, they probably won't leave very soon. I'm thinking WA state makes a little more sense (I personally prefer UW to BYU/UU, and I like the culture in WA more than (my limited experience with) UT), especially if you want to have only a single location which appeals to both "city people" and "country people" (an overgeneralization, but I think accurate). However, SF+UT seems like a really strong option. The awesome thing about this is that if UT becomes the backend dev shop for lots of startups, SFBA VC will be drawn there to finance new startups at some point, solving your financing problem.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
I attended UW for my undergrad and UU for my PhD. Seattle is definitely more dense in tech talent, but this has as much (if not more) to do with Microsoft than UW's very good program, which still doesn't crank out that many students (and those students are mostly off to google anyways). Also, WA doesn't just mean Seattle, but I'm sure the startup scene in Spokane is kind of moribund. The interesting thing about Utah is that it has a tech talent scene at all...I just wouldn't have expected it before I was living there. Rents are also more affordable and it's an ok city to live in.
- rdl 13y ago
  I'm looking at moving to WA-8 in early 2014 (assuming the stupid CA gun laws pass). That's not Spokane, but potentially could be an office around Redmond and me living somewhere east of there, with other people choosing to live in Eastside or even Seattle (I guess). (I actually really like E/NE WA too, and Idaho, but that isn't exactly viable.) What I like about UW is specifically their aero program and their cryptography and law programs. UU/BYU are not as strong on that. And MSR is amazingly proper. I guess I've known about the strengths of Utah for a while, but that's because I met a lot of Mormons in the military and in general overseas, and they did a great job of selling the state (actively and passively).

by rdl 13y ago

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

I attended UW for my undergrad and UU for my PhD. Seattle is definitely more dense in tech talent, but this has as much (if not more) to do with Microsoft than UW's very good program, which still doesn't crank out that many students (and those students are mostly off to google anyways). Also, WA doesn't just mean Seattle, but I'm sure the startup scene in Spokane is kind of moribund. The interesting thing about Utah is that it has a tech talent scene at all...I just wouldn't have expected it before I was living there. Rents are also more affordable and it's an ok city to live in.

rdl 13y ago
I'm looking at moving to WA-8 in early 2014 (assuming the stupid CA gun laws pass). That's not Spokane, but potentially could be an office around Redmond and me living somewhere east of there, with other people choosing to live in Eastside or even Seattle (I guess). (I actually really like E/NE WA too, and Idaho, but that isn't exactly viable.) What I like about UW is specifically their aero program and their cryptography and law programs. UU/BYU are not as strong on that. And MSR is amazingly proper. I guess I've known about the strengths of Utah for a while, but that's because I met a lot of Mormons in the military and in general overseas, and they did a great job of selling the state (actively and passively).