I am obviously a huge proponent of the DC area as a technology center and a great place to start and build a web startup for a variety of reasons. I, like many others, are always looking for that magic in a bottle that makes Silicon Valley the standard bearer for web startups and technology.
However, some would say that the Valley is not the idea place to move your startup to or try to start one there. Howard Anderson over at Gigaom has his list of why not move your startup to the Valley.
Founders can sometimes get too fixed to the idea that they must be in a certain incubating environment to succeed, when really, getting out of the startup fishbowl is sometimes the best thing they could do. I often encourage startups I invest in or founders I counsel to be contrarian and start their firms outside of the Valley, or failing that, to move East while they still can.
Howard went on to note some of his picks for places to start companies in: Boston; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Austin; Research Triangle, N.C.; Minneapolis; Tallahassee; Toronto; and Basking Ridge, N.J. Of course I was a little disapointed to see DC not on the list, but lets take a look at Howard’s reasoning behind his picks and lets see if DC fits in.
1. The weather sucks in some of these towns (not Tallahassee) so your people will actually work instead of bugging out at 5:15 to train for a marathon, triathlon or Ultimate Frisbee.
2. You can recruit better outside the fishbowl. Every technology company hits the wall — some multiple times. In the Valley your employees will bail at the first sign of trouble and jump to a better job in the next parking lot. That means you will have to spike salaries to rebuild your team. Other places in the world aren’t quite so spoiled – or they come to you already cynical and stay through the rough times.
3. You won’t get lost in the startup maze. In the Valley, every VC has a portfolio company in each flavor – their own LP’s can’t tell them apart.
4. In my experience, other startup communities aren’t as pre-occupied with the “exit” as Da Valley. SV VC’s have attention spans measured in picoseconds and will sell/merge your company at the first sign of trouble. I can say that in Boston, at least, we are used to gutting out long “winters.”
5. Academics make great board members. Each of these cities has a rich educational environment and are great places to recruit sartorial advisors. And unlike at Stanford, you wont have to give up 1 percent of your equity just to put the provost’s name on your board!
OK, lets see ..
The weather sucks, did anyone go outside last weekend … nuff said
You can recruit better outside the fishbow, true there is a lot of talent here in the area but many may not have the “spirit” to venture outside the box
You wont get lost in the startup maze. I think this is absolutley valid here in the DC area. I think we have a great ecosystem that is not overcrowded and people defeinitely stand out for all to see.
Preoccupied with the exit. I would say that snce we have had no exits we are much more concerned with the funding and getting few up over the hump
Academics, the University of MD has a top 5 Engineering and CS school and produces a insane amount of talented and smart people every year. We just need to work a bit harder to tap that talent before they get out and leave the area.
So what do you think, is the DC area ripe for startup building?
