

Is there a Silicon Valley advantage? - vas_popovski
http://tparang.blogspot.com/2009/12/is-there-silicon-valley-advantage.html

======
grellas
_Most of the founders of successful Bay Area startups are not "locals", but
first generation "immigrants" from other parts of the US/world._

Very true. When I started representing startups in the Valley in the mid-80's,
the overwhelming majority of the founders were "locals." Since 2000 at least,
this pattern has decidedly shifted, at least for the companies I represent
(with a clear majority now being either immigrants or from first-generation
immigrant families, many from India).

There is also a decided international emphasis today in terms of Valley
companies using resources (people, investment sources, etc.) not at all
centered in the Valley as they used to be.

The Valley connection does remain important in many key ways, however, as
noted in the post - in my judgment, it is still by far the best place to be
for a significant number of startups.

A good, balanced post on this issue.

------
hga
I've spent a dozen years each in the Boston and Washington, D.C. areas,
working at various startups in each, and I have lots of friends who've spent
time in Silicon Valley. Here's what I've noticed:

In California non-competes are all but unenforceable (there are exceptions but
they don't make much difference). It's hard to express just how much of a
difference this makes (I've experienced the reverse in the above areas); go
back to the beginning of the Silicon part when the Traitorous Eight left
Shockley, followed by so many leaving Fairchild and e.g. founding Intel. I've
read that the cross-fertilization between companies had a lot to do with the
rapid developments in that field.

Silicon Valley is said to have a better attitude towards failure and the most
savvy set of VCs on earth (OK, the latter is less important nowadays).

On the other hand, it's said to be rather ageist, not that that would be
unique.

All in all, if I had been capable of dealing with the traffic I would have
moved there, it sure looked and looks to be the best place for startups. The
only place? Clearly not, and I suspect its advantages are somewhat less
important nowadays. But I'm sure for a whole lot of fields it's still the
place where a startup has the best chance of success.

------
nvoorhies
There's undoubtedly a silicon valley advantage when it comes to doing actual
silicon. Presumably there's an advantage on the software (and particularly
internet startup, as is the focus of the article) side of things as well. I
find it hard to believe that so many companies are spending the extra $$ for a
fancy mailing address.

So how much of the advantage is just having a pool of experienced talent
locally available? How much of a difference does being able to sit in front of
a white board and hash out an idea with a coworker face to face make for an
internet company? Is the nearby presence of hardware companies still a
significant advantage in some way? Did all these people just move to silicon
valley because it made sense to go where everyone else in the industry went?

I was a bit disappointed that the article didn't really try to address these
points.

How

