Delete comment from: Captain Capitalism
As a current resident of Bat Shit Crazy, CA, and batting 3 successful, profitable liquidation events for 3 startups in a row, there are a couple of reasons why we are here:
A) if you don't play, you can't win
b) War bands in business are forged only on the battle field. The inner circle is very real, only in this particular playground, it is uniquely both who you know and what can you do. No one can or has ever done it alone - it is no coincidence that those 3 startups share a very similar core employee roster. I'm damn good, but the five of us are better then most in the world, and have proven that.
C) today, direct access to Capitol via angel founders and VC's that are willing to weather high risk stakes against a very very rare success rate is unique to this area. It is the social web of relationships between people, the gestalt of the entire Valley that makes the Valley possible. This does not exist anywhere else in the world today. It certainly can, but it does not today.
D) human capital, while the most important, is the least liquid. We aren't that mobile.
To win big, you must risk big. Most people are idiots who think they are amazing. Every business man thinks he's the master of the universe. Most people are full of shit.
By the way - I would love it if this environment could be recreated elsewhere. I've worked in every tech ghetto in America over my career - nowhere else is even close.
I'm here not for the weather, but for the joy of having my rather oversized ego match reality, if only for today. And it's a good thing people like me do this - do you have any idea how many 6 figure jobs that the successful execution of our ideas has created in the past decade alone? If the US runs on its own hubris. Then my tax dollars are what makes that shit possible.
May 25, 2013, 12:29:29 AM
Posted to Why Techies Love Tax Hell California