
We're not based in the valley. - jnovek
http://seeinginteractive.com/newspaper-support-group/omg-were-not-based-in-the-valley/
======
jcr
There's a difference between being defensive about where you are not located,
and actively promoting your favored location. I was born, raised and still
live in the Silicon Valley, but even a remote simpleton like me knows how cool
tech can be in Austin TX...

<http://geekaustin.org/>

<http://sdf.lonestar.org/>

As for startup stuff going on in Austin, from _JUST_ today's reading I noticed
the following being in Austin:

<http://blog.asmartbear.com>

<http://wpengine.com/>

<http://www.capitalthought.com/>

I'll still prefer my home over yours, but your home is also pretty sweet (and
worth bragging about).

~~~
StavrosK
As far as I'm concerned, you all have it easy. Try running a startup from a
remote town in Greece!

~~~
dbrannan
Try Alaska. I keep getting phone calls at 4 AM several times a month.

~~~
foxylad
That's nothing! When I were a lad, we ran our startup from Arrowtown in the
heart of New Zealand's Southern Alps - and we still do!

www.schoolconferences.com

~~~
norbu09
ok, you won, Wellington is clearly less remote than Arrowtown. iWantMyName is
based in NZ and we love it. I see the valley not as a requirement to be a
successful startup "in the US".

~~~
jcr
Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FatHLHG2uGY>

------
zephjc
"The weather is awesome! We’ve got a humid subtropical climate."

These two sentences seem contradictory to me.

~~~
jeremymims
In North America it probably doesn't mean what you think:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humid_subtropical_climate>

~~~
ryanwaggoner
No, it means exactly what you think. Summer in Texas is miserable.

 _Highs exceed 90 °F (32.2 °C) on 109 days per year, and 100 °F (37.8 °C) on
12._

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin,_Texas>

~~~
jnovek
It depends on what you like. I spent my entire life until I was 27 in the
frigidity of Northern Minnesota. After that, I rather enjoy the fact that
nearly every day in Austin is a t-shirt day.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
True, but I suspect the average person wouldn't describe a humid day at 95 °F
as "awesome weather".

~~~
juiceandjuice
Austin isn't Houston, it's not that humid.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
It is in the morning:

<http://www.cityrating.com/cityhumidity.asp?City=Austin>

------
staunch
No one ever claims it's impossible to be successful outside of The Valley. All
anyone ever says, at most, is that all things considered it's an advantage.

It's a completely false controversy, and always has been.

~~~
catshirt
I think the true controversy actually lies in how many of those advantages are
even still advantages, or how much longer they will be.

------
dr_
The NYC technorati feel that with enough investments it will one day usurp the
Valley as the technology hub of the world.

I'm pretty certain that will NOT happen and it will be more widespread. In
fact, places like Austin with it's climate, the young people it attracts,
atmosphere and relatively reasonable prices have a greater chance of becoming
a global tech hub than NYC does. NYC has way too many other things going on to
be heavily focused on tech.

------
egometry
I moved from Austin to the Valley three years ago.

When I came here, I missed Austin a lot. Now, although I know I'll move back
there some day, I'm going to miss the Tech Culture of the valley.

Austin's missing populated hackerspaces like the Hacker Dojo and Noisebridge,
and generally lacks technology meetups and hacker parties. The tech-based
people are there, but there's not much of a cohesive culture yet. (This is a
solvable problem!)

Of course, Silicon Valley is missing out on the Alamo Drafthouse... which is
one of the best reasons to live in Austin.

------
bretthoerner
Do you have office space in Austin, or are you really in Pflugerville? Your
contact page only mentions College Station and Pflugerville.

Anyway, this was news to me - are there any other YC companies here in Austin?
I thought I (and I'm just an employee of one) was alone. We should have beers.
:)

~~~
arohner
Me too. I'm the founder of a company in Austin that interviewed for YC this
winter, but got rejected.

If anyone reading this wants to meet up in Austin, my email's in my profile.

------
aothman
Why Austin (and not New York or Boston)? What was it like doing YC and then
not staying in SV? Was there any disagreement among the founders or investors
about moving away from the valley?

~~~
lloydarmbrust
Not really. The investors like it because we save a bunch of money. And the
founders are both from the Midwest so we like it. Actually, we're a Texas-
based company (maybe the only YC company that's not a DE corporation) and have
always planned to have this be our base of operations.

------
jpcx01
Also, no state income tax!

Is living in california worth over 10k a year? (assuming you have a reasonable
salary)

~~~
pclark
You pay no income tax in Texas? Really?!

~~~
lloydarmbrust
Yes really. No state income tax.

~~~
cookiecaper
How are the other taxes? I know that some Oregonians I know often talk about
how no-sales-tax Oregon has very high property tax to compensate.

~~~
bretthoerner
8.25% sales tax in Texas (8.25% in CA, 8.875% in NYC).

~~~
anamax
CA's sales tax is county/city dependent, starting from a 8.25% base. It's
9.25% in San Jose, 9.5% somewhere nearby, closer to 9.75% in SF, and less than
9% some places.

see <http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/pam71.htm> .

------
bane
The model of SV has proven to be one to emulate. It's only a matter of time
before other locals with that crucial mix of money and good schools get some
version of it.

------
niravshah
This is the second link from seeinginteractive.com in as many days that didn't
say much of anything other than 'work for us'. I wonder how much fake
controversy they are going to keep throwing at HN in order to recruit.

~~~
jeremymims
This was written as a clarification since so many people who applied assumed
we were in the Bay Area or Silicon Valley.

------
Skywing
Congratulations. I've been looking at moving to Austin, recently. I'm from
Dallas, so I'm familiar with the area and it's a great one.

~~~
CoachRufus87
I moved down to Austin (for school @ UT) from Arlington about 5 years ago and
haven't left since :)

------
hkarthik
Glad to see you guys coming back to Texas. We definitely need a larger startup
community out here.

------
fretlessjazz
Austin startup here as well. I actually moved from San Francisco to Austin to
launch <http://www.ideaffect.com>.

Also, hey Jason! Still owe you a beer sometime.

~~~
hkarthik
That's awesome, I was going to go with UserVoice for my feedback widget, but
I'm gonna have to support a fellow Texas startup and go with you guys now. I'm
based in Dallas myself.

