NYTimes: Silicon Valley rules
October 22nd, 2007 by Benjamin KuoThere’s a interesting article in the New York Times today talking about the ingredients of why Silicon Valley spurs so many startups. There’s a funny quote from Craig Johnson, a Bay Area VC, who says:
MR. JOHNSON, the venture capitalist in Palo Alto, noted that the greater Los Angeles area also has a pool of talented engineers (working at aerospace companies like Lockheed, Northrop and Hughes) and great universities (notably Caltech and U.C.L.A.) and plenty of money to invest. “But in Los Angeles,” he said, “people are scattered across a wide area; everything is more spread out.”
It’s harder for entrepreneurs to meet with one another and with investors, he added. And that means connections take longer, deals move slowly, fewer companies are formed. “Like a gas, entrepreneurship is hotter when compressed.” he said.
I found the entire article amusing because it demonstrates the “perception lag” we have here in terms of our technology activity. There’s a lot more, entrepreneurial companies here supplying the “raw material” for Southern Californias tech industry than Lockheed, Northrup, or Hughes. In fact, I don’t see a whole lot of crossover from the defense engineers to join startups. What I do see, is the people who have worked for successful progressive companies - Overture, Broadcom, Qualcomm, LowerMyBills, Pricegrabber, MySpace, etc. - driving the growth in the industry.
