
Ask HN: Where to find startup culture?  - aedifico
My current (and favorite so far) read is Zero To One by Peter Thiel.<p>To say that I&#x27;ve enjoyed this book so far would be a vast understatement. Chapter 8 on Secrets is fantastic, and Chapters 3&amp;4 on Competition V. Monopoly was mind blowing.<p>Though chapter 10 prompts a question about culture that I can&#x27;t seem to find an answer to.<p>The idea fascinates me, but I question: Where do I find such a culture?<p>As a mid twenties developer who loves to build things, I find it near impossible to find passionate people about software near me.<p>I don&#x27;t know if it&#x27;s my location in the bible belt, that near everyone I graduated with has 2 or 3 kids already, or if this kind of culture only exists on the coasts.<p>But where in the world do I go to find such a culture?
======
StevePerkins
Obviously, the Valley is its own thing. However, beyond that it's really just
a spectrum from urban to rural. There are thriving startup scenes (or at least
established companies with passionate technical culture) in virtually every
LARGE American city (e.g. New York, Chicago, Atlanta, etc).

There are also strong scenes in certain midsize markets that buck the larger
trend (e.g. Austin, the North Carolina triangle, etc).

However, if you are in a midsize or small market outside of that handful of
exceptions... then there are either few tech job opportunities at all, or the
only jobs available are "line of business" type work that no passionate
developer wants. It doesn't matter if you're in Memphis, Tennessee or
Syracuse, New York. The problem isn't regional, it's market size.

Whenever I hear people griping about technology and "The Bible Belt", etc... I
picture people fresh out of school who have never been anywhere and spend WAY
too much time trading political memes on Reddit. Nonsense. There are plenty of
technology hubs in large Southern cities, and plenty of backwoods hicks in the
Pacific Northwest.

~~~
chao-
Couldn't decide whether to respond to you or to bglazer above, but I
particularly agree with the _" any major city"_/ _" large Southern cities"_
part in both of your posts. If this were 2009, I wouldn't have as many
charitable things to say about anywhere outside SF (or maybe Seattle or
Austin), but five years makes a world of difference.

I can speak most intelligently to Texas' large cities, as I spend a lot of
time traveling between Houston, Austin and Dallas. Back in 2010 or 2011, you
might find two tech (or tech startup) events going on in a particular week.
Now all three places have 2-3 events happening _on any given night_ , and you
can hardly choose which you want to go to, or if you want to spend the night
just hacking and getting shit done (because that matters too!).

An example: In order to help run an event for Houston's Lean Startup Circle
this past Thursday, I had to skip a talk at a startup speaker series and miss
the launch party of Texas Medical Center's new Healthcare Accelerator.

Austin, has a better reputation (or just visibility?) on HN, but if you're
comparing for places to live long-term, I wouldn't necessarily put it above
Houston or Dallas in any absolute sense. My honest take is that tech in Austin
feels more visible and "Valley-like" because of how small Austin is.
Technology is simply larger in terms of percentage.

~~~
ubercode5
Do you have any resources to discover some of the events that you are
referring to? I'm currently in Houston (albeit a bit south) and would love to
find out more.

~~~
chao-
Absolutely. For historical reasons (not worth rambling about), a lot of
Houston's early startup "scene" was organized via Facebook group, and somewhat
remains so to this day.

Single biggest resource is the Startup Houston blog/site [0], followed by the
Houston Startups Facebook Group [1], and the Startup Digest calendar [2], both
of which are linked to from Startup Houston. The calendar can be a bit
cluttered, so working with the Lean Startup Circle [3], I help compile a
monthly, semi-curated list of events that gets sent out to anyone who
subscribes to "organizer announcements" within Meetup.

Plans are in the works for a unified calendar/feed for Houston's many, many
Tech meetups, which currently have no central point of organization. Example
of what I mean: there are 2 (or 3?) Python meetups, 3 separate UX meetups, and
while there is a broader "Functional Programmers" meetup, the Clojure folks
have their own separate one in addition.

Lastly, the three major coworking spaces inside the loop [4, 5, 6], as well as
the SURGE seed accelerator [7] all put on good events. Not _all_ of those
events reliably make it onto the startup calendar, as each has its own little
calendar page, but that's being worked on as well.

[0] [http://startuphouston.com/](http://startuphouston.com/)

[1]
[https://www.facebook.com/groups/houstonstartups/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/houstonstartups/)

[2]
[https://www.startupdigest.com/digests/houston](https://www.startupdigest.com/digests/houston)

[3] [http://www.meetup.com/leanhouston/](http://www.meetup.com/leanhouston/)

[4] [http://www.starthouston.com/](http://www.starthouston.com/)

[5] [http://www.platformhouston.com/](http://www.platformhouston.com/)

[6] [http://whitespacehou.com/](http://whitespacehou.com/)

[7] [http://www.surgeaccelerator.com/](http://www.surgeaccelerator.com/)

------
bglazer
I'm in much the same situation as you are, as I'm squarely in the bible belt.
Memphis TN to be exact. My suggestion for finding this "startup culture" is to
go to meetups, hackathons, and makerspaces. I don't know your exact location,
but nearly every major city in the South supports a small but growing culture
of people who enjoy building and designing new things. Additionally, these
people will have connections to the actual startups that are present in that
city.

You didn't ask for this, but here's a rather weak plea not to move.

Please don't leave us for San Francisco!

Why I don't feel compelled to move:

1\. I feel connected to the "startup culture" via the twitter, HN, etc. I
understand the desire for physical co-location but really, this is why the
internet is so powerful.

2\. Brain drain is a real phenomenon. You'll be leaving the bible belt a worse
place.

3\. You can create the culture! Be on the ground floor! I helped to organize a
hackathon in Memphis ([http://hackmemphis.com/](http://hackmemphis.com/)). It
was exhilarating.

4\. This will be an unpopular opinion on HN, but I find many aspects of the
stereotypical "startup culture" to be repugnant. The obsession with status. I
didn't go to Stanford, MIT, Indian Institute of Technology, or even lowly
Berkeley. Fuck me, right? Also, the greed and cut-throat competition.

5\. There are massive opportunities that won't be visible in the somewhat
insular urban environment of coastal cities.

~~~
Kalium
> 2\. Brain drain is a real phenomenon. You'll be leaving the bible belt a
> worse place.

A word of caution - not everyone considers this a bug.

~~~
clarkm
Well, it's a bug if you're worried about income inequality or the continuing
polarization of America. It's a lot like White Flight.

~~~
Kalium
I, personally, am not keen on trying to live in places where I am pointedly
made to feel unwelcome.

~~~
clarkm
Good to know, but that has nothing to do with what I said.

------
samsolomon
As someone who has been in SF, Chicago, Atlanta and now lives in Mobile, Ala.,
I can tell you that you aren't going to find tech culture outside of a major
city. My suggestion would be to plan on moving to a near major city—New
Orleans, Austin or Atlanta would probably be your closest good bet.

I actually started a podcast, Signal Tower, to keep in touch with people in
the community. It is wearing on me though. I'm clearly out of place in this
town.

~~~
aedifico
I'll definitely be tuning into your podcast.

[http://signaltower.co/](http://signaltower.co/) right?

~~~
samsolomon
Yep, that's it!

I suppose it is more of a publication, but I turn each interview into a
podcast as well.

------
akerl_
> I don't know if it's my location in the bible belt

Yes. You really need to start looking for either remote jobs that are
headquartered elsewhere, or start looking to relocate to one of those places.
The second will likely get you more culture, there are plenty of good remote
companies but also plenty of bad ones.

SF seems to be the commonly-referenced location, but really any city.
Portland, DC, New York, really anywhere that's not bible belt.

~~~
treehau5
Didn't think Charlotte and Atlanta would get overlooked so easily.

~~~
pc86
They don't fit the narrative that you need to live in one of a handful of
cities to be a "real" developer.

------
j4pe
Partly a location thing. There was an excellent comment [1] in the last few
days about how coastal business has always had a mercantile growth culture,
while midwest business culture has centered on commodities and thrift. Please,
please don't buy into to Valley hype - it's good for fundraising and hiring
but by no means your only option.

(I liked 0->1 too, especially chapter 8, but it's being massively overrated.
Go read PG's thoughts on rhetoric - 'a real essay doesn't take a position and
then defend it' [2] - then go back and look at 0->1\. Thiel is compelling, but
his paragraphs feel like advocacy rather than the unveiling of new
information.)

Recommendation: check out Founders at Work, Revolution in the Valley for some
fun firsthand accounts of startup culture. Then move to a big city, not
necessarily a coastal one.

1:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/energy/comments/2j3g14/walmart_provi...](http://www.reddit.com/r/energy/comments/2j3g14/walmart_proving_once_again_that_they_are_the/cl87fnr)

2:
[http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html)

------
geori
There are some Tech Startups in the bible belt. There's stuff going on in
Atlanta and Austin. And my startup, EdgeTheory, is located in Jackson,
Mississippi. Yes, it is harder to find like minded people in the South, but
they're out there.

As other commenters mentioned, I suggest finding meetups in your area or
driving to a larger city and attending one if there are none where you live.

~~~
madcaptenor
Seconding Atlanta. I moved here from San Francisco in the spring, because
living in SF just didn't seem sustainable and at my (not old!) age I was
starting to feel old. There are lots of startups here although I took a job at
a large company.

(Don't move here if you don't like traffic, though.)

~~~
wuliwong
Thirding Atlanta. My point of reference is Philadelphia (not in the bible-
belt). Atlanta has significantly more startups and acquisitions than in
Philadelphia, at least in the areas that I interact. Even with Philadelphia
being home of First Round Capital, there isn't a lot of hometown investments
in their portfolio compared to their SF ones.

This bashing of the 'bible-belt' is just silly. It's just as close minded and
prejudiced as what the bashers accuse the residents of the 'bible-belt' to be.
Go out to Western PA or northern New York and tell me about the 'startup
culture' there vs. the bible-belt.

My guess is that nearly any metro area is going to have a superior startup
culture compared with nearly any rural area. As far as comparing city vs.
city, I would guess there isn't a real solid rule to follow. Probably requires
some investigation and also factor in your own personal likes and dislikes.

~~~
madcaptenor
Philadelphia has a good number of startups as well, as I discovered when I was
doing job searches in Philadelphia and Atlanta simultaneously. (I'm originally
from Philly and my wife went to college to Atlanta and loved it, so both were
places we had ties to when we decided we'd had it with San Francisco.)

------
jbob2000
"location in the bible belt, that near everyone I graduated with has 2 or 3
kids already"

there's your problem!

"this kind of culture only exists on the coasts"

there's your solution!

------
kochb
Add Ann Arbor, MI to that list. We (FarmLogs) relocated here after YC W12.
It's often off the radar, but there's several Series A or later companies
here[1]. University of Michigan consistently puts out great talent, and MHacks
in particular is one of the nation's largest hackathons.

[1]: [http://www.madeina2.com/](http://www.madeina2.com/)

------
roneesh
Almost any major city now has some people trying to make startups happen in
their town. Find a co-working space or local startup accelerator and ask/pay
to work out of it.

Tangibly you experience startup culture in three ways:

1\. Being at a hub where that scene happens (almost always a co-working space
or accelerator), 1871 here in Chicago is such a place, and it's a co-working
spot 2\. Having access to an organization that hosts events and alerts you to
events and dispenses local news, BuiltInChicago is our local site that has
keeps an up to date event calendar and where announcements happen. 3\. Working
with a startup, freelancing for startups or building projects at hackathons.
Where you know, "work" actually happens.

If you find those three things you'll get more startup culture than you need,
and it doesn't have to happen in a big city. I'm pretty sure Kansas City fits
that bill. Omaha definitely does. Nashville, pretty sure.

------
vonnik
If you want to stay in the heartland, you might look at Chicago,
Denver/Boulder and Austin -- they all have burgeoning startup-tech cultures
that would be a step up from the sticks. I'm from a small town in the northern
Great Plains, and I know that empty feeling you're talking about!

~~~
emingo
I can vouch.

Currently working for a startup in Boulder, and it is really awesome.

~~~
eastbayjake
Do you have recommendations for companies in Denver/Boulder that are doing
cool things? (I'm from Denver but live in SF, so I know the area well.)

~~~
emingo
Currently working for Kapost. It is pretty kick ass.

What's your stack? shoot me an e-mail erik.mingo at kapost.com

------
ackdesha
I'm in a similar situation. I've found myself with a job I love, working
remotely, which has afforded me the opportunity to move back to the small
rural (unfortunately very much bible-belt) town where I was born and have
roots. I enjoy most aspects of small town living, being with family and old
friends, low cost of living, etc.

However there is near zero startup/tech culture to be found (duh). My
idealistic streak would like to change that somehow ("forty acres and a emacs
MULE"), but that's unlikely.

Anyone in AR, feel free to message me to geek out.

~~~
mrbrandonking
There's a start-up scene starting to grow around Northwest Arkansas somewhat.
Innovate Arkansas and the ARK Challenge are a local source of seed funding.

NWA TechFest [http://nwatechfest.com](http://nwatechfest.com) and Little Rock
TechFest [http://lrtechfest.com/](http://lrtechfest.com/) are good events for
networking.

There's a good network of local .NET User Groups across the state, too. NWA,
Little Rock, Fort Smith, Jonesboro all have one. If that's too Microsofty for
you, I'm pretty sure there's a Cocoa group in NWA.

------
mrbrandonking
The Tulsa TechFest is in your hometown -
[http://techfests.com/Tulsa/2014/default.aspx](http://techfests.com/Tulsa/2014/default.aspx).
It was actually the first of the TechFests, and draws over 1,000 people.

I've attended both Dallas and Houston TechFests, and Tulsa usually comes-out
on top even though it's in a smaller city.

Also looks like Steve Wozniak will be speaking at the Mabee Center in April,
2015.

------
rch
Swing through Denver/Boulder sometime. There's a startup week in both (you
just missed Denver), but there is usually something going on.

~~~
aedifico
I've heard really good things about both actually!

Was it [http://www.denverstartupweek.org/](http://www.denverstartupweek.org/)
? I couldn't find any in October, but this looks like the one I missed.

------
rudyrigot
Trying to define "startup culture" could feed your reflexion. I did that a few
months back, and made a blog post about it: [http://rudyonweb.net/what-
startup-culture-actually-is/](http://rudyonweb.net/what-startup-culture-
actually-is/)

Hope that helps!

~~~
aedifico
Thanks a ton, I'm reading it now and so far find it very insightful!

------
cdbattags
I'm not sure where you live but Meetup.com has put me in some pretty awesome
startup culture networks.

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dyeje
You don't need to move very far to find a good startup. If it's a major city,
there's probably going to be some sort of tech scene with at least a few
startup culture companies. Regardless of whether or not it's a on a coast.

------
wellboy
Definitely check out www.startupdigest.com. It sends you a weekly digest of
the best startup events in your city, where you will meet young people like
you who also want to start a tech startup.

~~~
aedifico
Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely pay the site a visit!

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rak
Where in the Bible belt are you? There are some budding places that are
technically in the Bible Belt.

You may not need to relocate as far as you may think, or HN might suggest.

~~~
aedifico
I'm in Tulsa, Ok. :)

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delqn
Where's the Detroit startup scene?

------
sharemywin
what city are you in?

~~~
aedifico
I'm in Tulsa, Ok.

