When I took over FirstRain two and a half years ago I moved the company from Manhattan to Foster City. It was a deliberate decision and one I told the board I would do before I accepted the job. The personnel I moved were all engineering and product design, the rest I rehired. It was not an easy decision for my employees but it was the right decision to be able to get the level of talent in required to build a system of the technology depth that we need to use the web as a research base for institutional grade investors. I left the sales team in New York - after all that is where our customers are - and the only time I ever question my decision is about 3 hours into a red eye from SFO to JFK, which I do frequently. Otherwise I know it was the best decision for the company and for my engineers.

I just think that the risk in startups is high enough already. If you can get your idea to silicon valley you should. You should take every avenue you can to reduce risk so that the remaining risk is in your idea and your ability to execute.

Whoa — that sucks.

http://dealarchitect.typepad.c.....alley.html

The Valley is a first among equals…

A romantic tourist
destination in the Western Highlands of Vietnam dubbed City of Love, Da
Lat targets to be a sort of Silicon Valley clone in Vietnam in the next
decade. Some attributes being promoted by local authority: nice weather
around the year…

I’ve never understood it, since obviously Berkeley students are more entrepreneurial — they are getting 95% of the education & regional effects for 1/2 the price.

It is great that you’re so proud to live in a place where people “can change the world”, except that I keep wondering, per capita, what difference there is. Yahoo and Google are totally new companies. Let’s see where they are in another 40 years. Right now, one of them is about to be gobbled up by, uhm, a Seattle company? Yahoo is a total mess. How can that be if they work 18 hours a day, which according to you is really what makes a company successful.

But it’s about balance. You would’ve thought that the people of California would understand this! But nah, their just acting like the New Yorkers of yesteryear. It’s all about time spent!

SF itself is a beautiful city, but christ, the rest of the area is a total black hole. Palo Alto? Sunnyvale? Ugh. You want to live there? Do you guys ever look in the mirror? You guys look totally unhealthy.

So yea, keep your HARDCORE life. It’s awesome. Really. Just keep telling yourself that

I’ve seen reports which suggest that male-female ratio in Silicon Valley was even higher than in Anchorage, Alaska. I’ve also heard that the women who are in the Valley have a saying about the nerds in the Valley: “the odds are good, but the goods are odd.”

So when young men dismiss ‘life balance’, it makes me wonder if they have their priorities right?

On a cold winter’s night, I sit by the fire with a warm Apple Air on my lap and my Blackberry in my pocket, set to vibrate. Then I sip on some Bawls and call myself periodically while I browse the latest hot web 2.0 plays from the Valley.

Cebu Normal University produces some great engineers and the lifestyle is great. We have lots of attactions including Magellan’s Cross, Basilica Minore del Santo Niño and the annual Sinulog festival.

The Manny Pacquiao tech fund provides startups with up to 203,407,500 Philippines Pesos each to get started with their dreams.

For Americans looking at Cebu City as a headquarters location, consider that there are many beautiful Filipino women who will be interested in marrying you. They are very loyal and make great homemakers and mothers.

If you want a well balanced life, Silicon Valley is not for you. But if you want to change the world and are willing to do absolutely anything to achieve your dreams, there is no better place to be than here…And if you aren’t willing to take advantage of every possible advantage to make your crazy startup idea work, perhaps you shouldn’t be an entrepreneur.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. So true!

2. Access to Capital (Sand Hill and Tech I-Banks)

3. Better Weather

4. More Cultural Diversity

5. Easy to grab a beer or coffee casually with almost all the people you’ll be working with or competing against.

Silicon Valley 5, Seattle 0

And by the way, Lake Tahoe, Ocean Beach, Mt. Tam, and Santa Cruz are some of the most amazing outdoors experiences one can have. I’m not sure Seattle can beat that combination of lake, mountain, snow, surf, sun, and beach.

Yes we all know it is true, when we think “Start Up” we think Silicon Valley. There is no argument there. Here at East Coast Blogging, we often wade in and ponder this what’s and why’s that make the valley such a special place….

1. Even though Seattle reinvented coffee, SV is far more “caffeinated” when it comes to startups and ideas. The buzz, the energy, the need to network is as basic to SV as is the traffic is on 101.

2. There are not many venture firms in Seattle. There are too many in SV.

3. I built a fund that was built on the premise of “bridging Seattle and Silicon Valley.” Ultimately, i believe neither place should try to be either place but to take advantage of the geography and overlap of shared values and interests to work together.

4. I live in both places and the way i describe Seattle is with a little ratio i have come up with. For frivolity sake, let’s call it the Staenberg Ratio. It is the ratio of Hassle/Urbaness. Seattle is the reining (raining?) champion in the world today. Having just had a weekend of 3 parking tickets and a towed car in SF i feel pretty certain that SV is not in the top 10.

5. Yeah, Microsoft is not and never was “cool.” And most of the people there are not natural entrepreneurs but they have had a profound impact on the industry, they have spawned some interesting companies and they may be the last company that can keep Google in check.

6. Philanthropy. Yeah, lots of it in SV but wow, is the Gates Foundation an amazing idea that will bring incredible dollars, talent and energy to Seattle. It might even change the world.

6. Of course, maybe this debate mattters more to the people in SV. Just look at how many people from Seattle chimed in on this. We are busy enjoying our quality of life.

It’s all about the person. I started my company with $250.00 dollars. TWO FIFTY. In Seattle. Within thirty days it was profitable, and has been every single month of it’s existence. While a bunch of “Web 2.0″ companies in the Valley are still hoping to turn a profit, my $250 has turned into what I never imagined it would.

All from Seattle. All without investors. Just hard work.

Your view of Seattle from Microsoft over in whitebread Redmond is skiewed.
Seattle has a diverse culture make-up. Seattle has a larger percentage of African Americans that San Francisco. A very large asian community. Not as many Hispanics as SF, but we are a LOT farther north than Ca, and I’d venture to say that our 6.3% Hispanic pop is the largest for any norther state. We also have a traditionally large group of Germans, Irish and Norwegians that helped build this city.
Working in Redmond/Bellevue and complaining about Seattle is like making off comments about San Francisco because you didn’t enjoy your stay in Vallejo.