

Ask HN: How do you create a Silicon Valley? - thejf

I realize this isn't a new question, and has even been addressed by Paul Graham before ( http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html ), but I was wondering if I could glean some more from HN's collective wisdom.<p>What does it take to create a vibrant tech hub filled with entrepreneuring hackers?<p>I ask with a specific place in mind. I live in Moncton, a mid-sized Canadian city that is in Atlantic Canada. The region has high unemployment and is marginalized, geographically and politically. Moncton fares better than most of the region and has about half the unemployment rate than the rest. It's geographically central and has become a "hub", drawing in a steady stream of migrants from the surroundings. We also have a lot of people in the region that are trained in tech-related field; the bulk of them work in call centres which are a significant part of the economy here. While bringing in money, the call centres unfortunately dull their I.T. skillsets.<p>In my mind, it seems like Moncton would be a good candidate to become a regional tech hub, but it hasn't really developed as such. So I wonder, what would it take to create a regional tech hub? Institutions? Investors? Culture? More Starbucks per capita? More personally, as someone from the tech/startup world, what would your ideal city be like?
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rst
Steve "Four Steps to the Epiphany" Blank's series of blog posts on "The Secret
History of Silicon Valley" is a good read on this subject. A short summary is
that a lot of the early firms were either got mentors from or directly spun
out of Stanford labs --- and that in the early years, most of what they were
doing was related to defense projects of one kind or another. (Fred Terman, a
Stanford professor whose name comes up all over the place, ran an electronic
warfare lab during World War II, and was heavily involved in cold war follow-
ons.) So, government money had more to do with it than purely doctrinaire
libertarians might be comfortable with.

The whole series is here (earlier posts at the bottom):

[http://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-
val...](http://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-valley/)

The first post is here, with a video of an hour-long talk given at a CIA
sponsored conference:

[http://steveblank.com/2009/03/23/if-i-told-
you-i%E2%80%99d-h...](http://steveblank.com/2009/03/23/if-i-told-
you-i%E2%80%99d-have-to-kill-you-the-story-behind-the-secret-history-of-
silicon-valley/)

~~~
thejf
Thanks, I will definitely read/listen to Steve Blank's Secret History of
Silicon Valley!

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diminium
I don't living in SV but I like reading about it. All I can really say is to
follow the money.

In order to be Silicon Valley, the first thing a place like Moncton needs is
money. Lots and lots of money. Silicon Valley got it's money because the US
Government wanted lots of Cold War gadgets.

The second thing is someone in charge that is smart enough to spend that money
correctly. Silicon Valley had Frederick Terman, who was very good at this.

The third thing you need is someone stupid. Well, not stupid in your area but
somewhere else. Someone who is willing to give you everything you want on a
silver platter for free because they think it's worthless. For example, in
Silicon Valley, these "things" are smart geeks. Other cities didn't care
enough to keep them so Silicon Valley took them one by one.

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mchannon
I think the answer may actually be far easier to quantify:

Ambitious people.

Many of the areas outside of the bay are composed solely of people who either
want a job that pays their bills, or don't want to work at all.

The bay sort-of self-selects for ambitious people; salarymen and slobs get
priced (or even bred) out, and the best and brightest are drawn in, either by
educational opportunities, high-growth job opportunities, or the community
itself.

New York, Boston, Boulder, Austin.. these places also have ambitious people.
This is in part because ambitious people like living near other ambitious
people.

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dreamdu5t
Silicon Valley is a brand. The critical component is building the reputation
and mythology of being a "vibrant tech hub."

------
Mz
Clickable: <http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html>

Stanford had some role in fostering Silicon Valley. I don't recall the
details, but if I were trying to "recreate Silicon Valley" I would research
that and then see if there was a way to get a local college involved doing
something similar. Then I would look at various incubators, their success
rates and details of their programs and see what low cost things could be
implemented. Even just fostering meetups locally might get the ball rolling.
You do not necessarily need much resources to get things started.

