One of the common complaints I hear (whether valid or not) from Silicon Valley folks talking about Southern California startups, is that they aren’t as visionary, are more focused on making money, and not nearly as revolutionary as the latest hot-company-of-the-week in Palo Alto. I don’t agree (not being that close to the water cooler and Kool-Aid helps a bit actually in being different), but nevertheless it’s one of those things you hear.

So, I read, with great amusement, this article by Sarah Lacy on TechCrunch about how the crop of companies at TechCrunch50 this year weren’t trying to change the world, weren’t swinging for the fences, and weren’t ambitious enough–with the exception of CitySourced. CitySourced is actually a Los Angeles company, founded by Jason Kiesel and Kurt Daradics. From Sarah’s article:

… Tony Hsieh just said it blatantly: “I didn’t see anything that was trying to change the world.”

One big exception was CitySourced—a company that excited Kevin Rose precisely because it was trying to build something that doesn’t really exist today and would make a huge difference in people’s lives. It was the most excited I saw an expert about anything over the two-day event.

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Silicon Valley, Southern California, Startups by Benjamin Kuo