Technically Speaking

While many people will agree with the article I found this morning, there are many in the Valley that will agree to disagree. The points made in the article are all valid, but I agree with one of the final statements made by Seth Goldstein:

“People in New York feel a chip on their shoulder because they’re not in the center of this thing,” says Seth Goldstein, a longtime Silicon Alley player now decamped to Marin County.

Being that I’m about 2,000 miles from San Francisco and the Valley proves that under the right circumstances you can be in the thick of this up time in the industry. Another case in point is RWW’s own Marshall Kirkpatrick who resides up the coast in the nice metropolis of Portland, OR. Being there hasn’t stopped him from being Mike’s main go to writer last year, nor has it stopped him from working for SplashCast, another startup *not* in the Valley.

The Valley does provide great access to resources, and for most startups that I have talked with, I suggest that a possible re-location might boost the chances. Than again, I also state that you should be able to live anywhere and enjoy the bubble while it lasts.

There is nothing out there that states you must be in NYC or San Francisco to be in a successful Web 2.0 company. The fact is that many companies that I have dealt with are in the area, but in the same token I have dealt with companies outside the area as well; just as successful, and enjoying this Web 2.0 bubble.

Will it all come crashing down like a house of cards? I think there will be a downturn coming soon, but as for an actual crash, no. One thing we have to remember, everything hardware, software, and knowledge level has all increased to the power of ten since the first dot com bust. Infrastructure speaking, it’s a better ship we are riding on this time out.

Technically Speaking, yes, I still live in St. Louis, Missouri but am employed one company where we all live in a variety of places (Lookery) - but still based out of San Francisco, CA and another company in Sunnyvale, CA (Lending Club).