William Sahlman of Harvard Business School, speaking at the Stanford University eCorner about the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs. Not enough is said about this topic.
Characteristics of Entrepreneurshttp://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1806
This debate about Silicon Valley goes on ad nauseum, and in this Venture Beat post.
My answer to this guy is “it depends,” big time. It depends on a lot of factors, including the entrepreneur him or herself, access to money, brains, a “cluster” as this guy found in Austin Texas, well-known for not only IT management, as he points out. The University of Texas at Austin is key, and other companies there include IBM, AMD and Intel. Boulder, Colorado, northern Virginia, NYC, Boston, a bit in greater L.A./Orange County, and definitely San Diego are all happening, but in different segments, and in different ways.. Even very small communities like Walla Walla Washington have found ways to have an innovative economy…But there is still nothing quite like the breadth and scope of Silicon Valley, and it is unlikely to change anytime soon.
I just had a long talk Friday evening with a good friend, a consultant, as she was driving home in heavy SV commute traffic, who has worked in the Valley for her entire career. It still is a magnet and she has more clients than she can handle, but the company profiles are changing. Hollywood has moved north and not just Pixar stuff. Digital sound editing for some reason is in Daly City and South San Francisco. I remember one Canadian entrepreneur telling me how he felt the vibe in northern California. and it was a huge factor for him. Kelowna was dead, dead, dead. Vancouver was bit better, but SV was best for the buzz of ideas.
mayo615 