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Sergey Brin: Don't Come To Silicon Valley To Start a Business (businessinsider.com)
An anonymous reader shares a Business Insider report:If you're itching to start a company out of a garage, then you shouldn't pick up and move to Silicon Valley, according to Google cofounder Sergey Brin. It's easier to start a company outside the Valley than in it, he said onstage at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. "I know that sort of contradicts what everyone here has been saying," he said with a laugh. "During the boom cycles, the expectations around the costs -- real estate, salaries -- the expectations people and employees have ... it can be hard to make a scrappy initial business that's self-sustaining," he said. "Whereas in other parts of the world you might have an easier time for that."But he adds that Silicon Valley is good for scaling that opportunity.
"Do the riskiest part of starting a business somewhere else. Then, when it reaches maximum future potential, bring it to Silicon Valley so we can buy it out from under you for a song and make a ton of money."
"But he adds that Silicon Valley is good for for scaling that opportunity."
When we discuss stuff like this we need to consider that the Web 2.0 bubble has already burst. It wasn't a spectacular burst like the initial .com crash, but the burst has still happened.
We've seen IPOs dry up.
We're seeing little to no growth for the major incumbents, even if they haven't completely flamed out yet.
People are tiring of Facebook, Twitter, and nonsense "social media" (with is mainly about subjecting users to ads).
LinkedIn, one of the Web 2.0 darlings, was just bought out by Microsoft.
The Ruby on Rails fad died off some time ago. The JavaScript fad is dying off now. Now we're seeing the Rust fad start, but compared to its predecessors it's a total joke.
Average users are getting fed up with the Hipster-oriented design we've been forced to ensure for years now. Software products that were one really usable have become damn near impossible to use (Google Maps, Windows, GNOME, Firefox, among others).
Slashdot was nearly destroyed by the Slashdot Beta, but luckily it was spared in the end.
The mobile device market has peaked.
Beyond Web 2.0, we aren't seeing any traction.
IoT isn't taking off like it was expected to. Average people have come to realize that these devices can be very obtrusive. Most normal people don't want some device videoing and recording them while they urinate or defecate. They don't want their penis measurements sent to "the cloud".
VR isn't taking off as expected. The development is going way slower, and people aren't impressed by the results so far. It's a long way off.
Drones were only ever a niche interest. Average people don't care about them, and business uses are facing many hurdles.
The Web 2.0 bubble has burst. There is no bubble coming after it. San Francisco is looking to be in a very bad situation, even if the people there don't realize it yet.
payroll's a bitch when your employees have to be millionaires to afford their very own hovel.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Holy fuck are you dumb? Serge says moving TO the valley is a great place to scale the opportunity. As in, if your business is booming outside of the valley, move into the valley to make it even bigger.
It sounds like Sergey Brin is tired of having to wait in long lines at the In-and-Out Burger.
You are welcome on my lawn.
There are many places around the country (or the world) that have good talent and moderate to cheap living expenses. Those are the best places to get a tech business off the ground. You will probably have more trouble finding funding for your idea, but startup costs are much lower than in Silicon Valley. I am trying to start up my own business and it is a lot of trouble to find investors. It can be depressing to read about guys with great connections in SV who get $20 million in funding for some idea with a potential of about 10% of what you think your idea will do; yet you can't seem to get even seed funding of much smaller amounts. It drives you insane when someone gets $100 million in funding for a really bad idea that you know will crash and burn in just a year or two.
The healthcare situation in this country is so fucked up.
At least when you are paying everybody as little as possible to get off the ground, they will have good healthcare.
Absolute statements are never true
Start your company anywhere... but if you want VC money, get your ass to Sand Hill Road because VCs can't see past the end of their own driveway.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Worked and lived in Mountain View in the late 1980's; visited the peninsula many times since then.
Got out when I realized that I would not be able to afford a house unless I hit the startup lottery.
Also, realized I did not want to rear children in either side of Palo Alto (east or west).
Still, having some direct experience of Silicon Valley has been useful ever since; it helped me get every job I've had since that time.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.