
How does the Research Triangle Park compare to other startup hubs? - mindcrime
http://www.quora.com/How-does-the-Research-Triangle-Park-compare-to-other-tech-startup-hubs-like-Silicon-Valley-NYC-Austin-Boulder-and-Boston
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DanielBMarkham
Living only 2 hours away, I'm a big fan of RTP. At the top of the ladder you
probably have the Silicon Valley and probably Austin, Texas. Then there's 3 or
4 great second tier places: Boulder, Boston, RTP, etc (NYC? Seattle? DC?)

I've worked in all of these areas, and as far as cost-of-living and breathing
room, RTP has the others beat. I'm still concerned about the atmosphere -- I'd
like to see a lot more early-stage VCs and a better startup culture, but it's
definitely top-notch. If I had a startup that was breaking even and looking
for a spot to settle and grow? I really don't think there's much competition:
Austin's too hot, The Valley's too expensive, Boston's too crowded. It'd most
likely boil down to Boulder or RTP. You can make great arguments about each of
these (BTW, I love working in all the other areas too. Not trying to dismiss
any of them out-of-hand.)

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mindcrime
_I'm still concerned about the atmosphere -- I'd like to see a lot more early-
stage VCs and a better startup culture, but it's definitely top-notch._

Definitely "yes" on the "more early stage VCs" part. More active angel
investors would be huge for this area as well.

As for "startup culture" in general, though, I think it's improved a LOT and
just recently... like in the last two years. There's been a huge surge of new
startup activity here, especially in Durham. The whole "American Underground"
thing has been a big boon, as has the "Startup Stampede" thing that Durham has
done (and "Startup Stampede 2.0 is about to kick off).

It still has room to grow, but we're starting to see hints of the emergence of
that strong startup culture.

Another thing that would be helpful, would be to get some of the experienced /
successful existing entrepreneurs more engaged with the community of people
who are just starting out.

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DanielBMarkham
Just guessing, but it's almost like you have to have an initial "wave" of
entrepreneurs that work hard, make it happen, sell or flip, then stay in the
area and want to get into something interesting.

The Valley has an advantage here, because you can start, grow, then flip to
Google and never leave home. Then when you finally cash out you're still in
the same spot.

I think RTP (and a lot of other places) are going to have to count on startups
that don't end up moving out of town. That's going to be tough to do, but it's
possible. The atmosphere for startups worldwide just keeps getting better and
better. It's a numbers game.

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mindcrime
_Just guessing, but it's almost like you have to have an initial "wave" of
entrepreneurs that work hard, make it happen, sell or flip, then stay in the
area and want to get into something interesting._

Yeah. The phrase you sometimes hear people use here is "We need our own
version of the Paypal Mafia." Strangely enough, there are a handful of locals
who made big $$$ after the Red Hat IPO, but few of them seem to have chosen to
become active investors afterwards. But something like that would help.. if a
company like iContact were to go public and make a bunch of their founders
wealthy, you'd like to hope they'd stay here and invest in the next round of
startups.

Time will tell, I suppose...

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drewker
3 major universities are within 15 miles of each other, infrastructure is
excellent, no overcrowding, traffic is tolerable, lots of room to expand,
reasonable cost of living, beach and mountains are only a few hours away, you
get 4 seasons here, large international population, brand new airport, green
conscious, health conscious, cool downtown vibes, diversity...etc, etc

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s103820
[http://blogs.forbes.com/kurtbadenhausen/2011/06/29/the-
best-...](http://blogs.forbes.com/kurtbadenhausen/2011/06/29/the-best-places-
for-business-and-careers/)

