
Why It Makes Sense To Start Your Company Outside of The Valley - jaybol
http://grasshoppergroup.com/why-it-makes-sense-to-start-your-company-outside-of-the-valley/
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HardyLeung
Disappointed. This actually reads like an eHow article. Almost all points are
trivial, and are nothing more than pitching the other side of the coin (of why
you _should_ start your company in the Valley):

Indepedence? SV: Connected

Low Cost of Living? SV: Center of the Universe

Lower Wages for Top Talent? SV: Where talents are

Fewer Nearby Competitors? SV: Where the action (people/market) is

Relative Obscurity? SV: World renowned

I think the question is something most entrepreneurs in and out of the valley
have thought about a lot, myself included. I personally very much like to see
more action in Pittsburgh and Portland (OR). I don't think the author offers a
very compelling, deep argument beyond what a content-farm author can put
together in an hour or two.

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billpaetzke
>Top programmers in Portland or Raleigh-Durham (where Shoeboxed.com is
located) don’t have as many lucrative opportunities to choose from

As a result, they may move to Silicon Valley.

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prodigal_erik
That's precisely why I moved from Seattle. I don't know why I waited so long
to literally double my salary (compared to five years ago).

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thiagofm
The good thing about the valley is that there's a lot of talent around,
investors and so on.

An average/bad entrepreneur should be able to weight the lifecost there and
what you get from being in the valley... I thought this article would give me
more insight about what's like to live there(and why I shouldn't), instead of
giving obvious reasons.

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revicon
Having going through raising startup capital for our business, the
availability of it here in the Valley will make me think twice about trying to
start a business anywhere else. The availability and accessibility of the
angel and VC community is the reason so many businesses start here.

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neworbit
However, you will get enormously higher valuations - literally four to ten
times or more - if you have the right connections in Silicon Valley. And you
will get acquired more readily (very likely because of those same connections)
in Silicon Valley. Until/unless companies outside the Bay Area get those same
sorts of valuations - and largely they won't because the angel/VC
infrastructure isn't there - it makes way more sense to move to Palo Alto.

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rmason
Do your pivots quietly and cheaply in Detroit or Des Moines and once you have
an executable and repeatable business model, then and only then consider the
Valley.

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kovar
Once you've done that, you probably don't need the valley.

They Silicon Valley's days aren't over, but with the rapid growth of hacker
spaces, incubators, angel groups, and other SV "services" in other areas, the
need to be in SV is diminishing.

Stay where you're successful and help build your own local SV type services.

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idlewords
One reason worth mentioning is that you can often get far better internet and
smartphone connectivity outside the SF bay area.

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nwp
You can obviously build a very successful company outside "The Valley."
However, I view being in the entrepreneurial "hot spots" like having multiple
founder with a technical background--it just increases your odds of success.

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amitraman1
I'll probably open mine in Pleasanton or Dublin, CA. It is 30 miles NW of
Silicon Valley, give or take a few miles. Here's why:

\- Employees can get to these two cities using BART, 580, 680 or ACE trains.
This allows me to make it easy for a diverse mix of employees to come work for
me (tech, support, admin, mktng, research)

\- Slightly lower COL. I don't know the exact number, but housing is a bit
lower here than in San Jose/Santa Clara. It's generally a reverse commute.

\- Same weather and cultural benefits that come with working in the Bay Area.

\- Very low crime rate.

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tptacek
Isn't Groupon a Chicago company?

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billpaetzke
Yes, but they recently opened an office in Palo Alto:
[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101201005807/en/Grou...](http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101201005807/en/Groupon-
Boosts-Silicon-Valley-Presence-Recruitment-Effort)

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keyvanraoufi
I agree that wages for top talent is lower outside the valley, but it's also
very difficult to find that top talent.

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hector_ka
Other reasons might be the family, kids. Plus if you know what are you doing,
and the money is not a problem ,there is no need to be at some location. The
guys that thing tat you should move in Silicon Valley are the venture
capitalists and angel investors that don't want to move their ass.

