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Sergey Brin: Don't Come To Silicon Valley To Start a Business (businessinsider.com)

Posted by msmash on from the think-about-it dept.

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.

9 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Translation by Bovius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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."

    1. Re:Translation by swillden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And those people are there because of all the businesses that are there. It's one big feedback loop that's going to keep building until it breaks

      Or until the cities cave in and start allowing high-density housing to be constructed, building decent mass transit (which is easier with high-density housing), etc. The actual population density is quite low compared to truly urban environments. But while they insist on sticking with a suburban lifestyle they're going to be bursting at the seams.

      Luckily, it does appear that Mountain View, at least, is finally starting to recognize this. After years of obstructionism, they have finally approved some high-density housing on the north bayshore. http://www.mv-voice.com/news/2.... With a lot more of that sort of thing, they could fix the problem. Of course, if they do too much of it, all of the people with million-dollar mortgages on $300,000 (at best) houses are going to be in trouble...

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  2. Re:Google by halivar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "But he adds that Silicon Valley is good for for scaling that opportunity."

  3. location, location, location by Thud457 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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

  4. Other places are better by DidgetMaster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  5. start your business in Canada by cats-paw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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
  6. Re:But the Web 2.0 bubble has already burst. by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Erm, no.

    It is reality sinking in but it is not a bubble bursting.

    The dot com bubble of 2000 was a bubble bursting.

    The housing crash of 2007 was a bubble bursting.

    But prices of companies, real estate, and so on regularly go up and down and sometimes go down sharply (eg. LinkedIn) when 'reality kicks in' but that that not automatically mean a bubble has burst.

    They're too different events - one is of a smaller scale the other is of a much LARGER scale that results in a large economy wide event that impacts everyone.

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  7. Great advice by sootman · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

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  8. Silicon Valley is a great place to be from by alispguru · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.