Best North American city for tech startups (rates, compared, quality)
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Hence why it is a sleeper...If you want truly urban neighborhoods, Center Square in Albany, Downtown Troy and the Stockade Historical neighborhood in Schenectady are some that come to mind. Saratoga Springs is another city in the metro area that is smaller, but is known for having good nightlife for its size and is quite affluent. There are other walkable neighborhoods like the Upper Union Area of Schenectady; as well as Albany neighborhoods such as Helderberg, Pine Hills and New Scotland that are more like streetcar suburban style in built environment.
It also has train access to NYC via its station in Rensselaer.
This makes no sense at all. If you started a company in Albany, you'd have to import pretty much your whole team. It would be really hard to recruit from the traditional startup centers because if you move to cheapsville, you're forever locked out of the housing market. If something bad happens, you're adrift in Albany. Startups are all about recruiting A+ talent quickly. You'd be burning through your VC cash stalled trying to build the team and run out of money while it's still seed capital. Time is money. You're on a massively short fuse to get your product to market.
This makes no sense at all. If you started a company in Albany, you'd have to import pretty much your whole team. It would be really hard to recruit from the traditional startup centers because if you move to cheapsville, you're forever locked out of the housing market. If something bad happens, you're adrift in Albany. Startups are all about recruiting A+ talent quickly. You'd be burning through your VC cash stalled trying to build the team and run out of money while it's still seed capital. Time is money. You're on a massively short fuse to get your product to market.
Albany already has a startup scene. Go back to the actual post where I referenced companies already in the OP’s target industries in the area, along with other information. That will offer some context first.
If the pandemic hasn't made it clear, I think it will be much more abundantly clear within a couple years that the economy is now fundamentally less location-based than ever, especially in white collar fields.
If tech companies are now rapidly dispersing their workforces more than ever before (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnb...on-valley.html), then things like venture capital and top talent will naturally follow suit.
I think we're FINALLY beginning to see the "flattening" of the world's spiky economic geography that was predicted decades ago. And that will without a doubt continue once COVID subsides.
Yes, cities like SF, Boston and NYC will continue to have a strong competitive advantage with tech companies given their infrastructure for that industry. But tech was always destined to create a diaspora by its very nature. There's no reason in 2021 why startups can't find just a as much success in Omaha as in Oakland.
No idea how the OP is doing with interviews/selections and all that. But since he has Montreal on his list, 8 days after Quantic Dream announced they're opening up their first N.A studio in Montreal, Deck13 has followed suit. Since you have gaming as one of your passions/start ups... I think this shows again that Montreal is a leader and you'd fit right in.
No idea how the OP is doing with interviews/selections and all that. But since he has Montreal on his list, 8 days after Quantic Dream announced they're opening up their first N.A studio in Montreal, Deck13 has followed suit. Since you have gaming as one of your passions/start ups... I think this shows again that Montreal is a leader and you'd fit right in.
Thanks for sharing! I'm super impressed with Montreal to be honest. I did meet with people from other cities this week, I'm meeting with some from Montreal later today and tomorrow I'll be meeting with others from SoCal. I'm still considering Albany as well as I'm starting to lean more towards the gaming industry especially with the pandemic, more people at home. So my final city shortlist is this really
(In): Montreal, Albany, L.A, Boston, Toronto (they have the infrastructure in place). So far I met with people from Boston, Toronto and NYC (which I moved to out). Montreal is today, Albany and L.A will be next week.
(out): NYC, S.F, Miami (either too expensive or in Miami's case, lack the talent)
(maybe): Atlanta but idk much about it. But it is a major city and I must do my due-diligence to explore my options.
With all the interviews so far though, it will make my decision harder since all are great cities.
Thanks for sharing! I'm super impressed with Montreal to be honest. I did meet with people from other cities this week, I'm meeting with some from Montreal later today and tomorrow I'll be meeting with others from SoCal. I'm still considering Albany as well as I'm starting to lean more towards the gaming industry especially with the pandemic, more people at home. So my final city shortlist is this really
(In): Montreal, Albany, L.A, Boston, Toronto (they have the infrastructure in place). So far I met with people from Boston, Toronto and NYC (which I moved to out). Montreal is today, Albany and L.A will be next week.
(out): NYC, S.F, Miami (either too expensive or in Miami's case, lack the talent)
(maybe): Atlanta but idk much about it. But it is a major city and I must do my due-diligence to explore my options.
With all the interviews so far though, it will make my decision harder since all are great cities.
Quebec has big provincial subsidies for R&D-oriented tech workers. There's a bunch of tech over the river from Ottawa taking advantage of it. I pushed a bunch of test automation work there since it's so much cheaper than anywhere else with a big pool of competent engineers in North America. I've been working with a company in Sherbrooke for the last decade+ where it really helps their bottom line. I haven't run into it professionally but I'm sure there's a lot of it going in on Montreal.
Let's be realistic about the Bay Area. It's the start up capital of not just the US, but the world. Other states might do a good job of poaching companies, but it's much more difficult to poach or recreate a start-up culture. So when people leave, they just get replaced by new players. Who is actually leaving are established companies where the young, Stanford level engineers have probably already left those companies anyways where they can build a company from ground up and have stock options with bigger potential.
With all these articles about tech leaving SF, if you've actually lived in the Bay Area, what these writers don't get is how ensconced all of the Bay Area is in tech. Not exaggerating when I say the whole Bay Area. The area practically doesn't do anything else.
It's also self-supporting, which is a huge advantage other cities don't have. Meaning if you have a start-up in NYC or Texas, and a similar one in SF, the one in SF is going to take off to mainstream success because SF tech has a sort of provincialism that if it doesn't come from there, it's probably not as good. So if the industry picks it up, eventually everyone follows.
But it's expensive. And if you don't have these outsized ambitions or funding, it's more practical to start somewhere else. You won't get your selection of the best engineers, but you also won't be filtering through applicants whose salary requirements are 170K/year base and expecting significant equity.
I agree with much of your take here, but I think the one question is whether the pandemic has fundamentally altered that "provincialist" thinking. We are part of the scene on the funding side, and there seems to have been quite a shift now for VC and Angels to look for startups outside SV and/or to invest remotely as well. If this becomes a permanent mindset shift it could really shake things up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffD
If you have a job offer and the desired job skills, it’s pretty easy to get Landed Immigrant status (like a green card in the US).
Right, but even easier (ok maybe not easier but fully within your own control) if you're the one creating the jobs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffD
On the Bay Area topic, I’ve had job roles in tech startups like Chief Architect. It’s really hard to create intellectual property without a conference room and a whiteboard with 3 or 4 technical leads. I’ve been telecommuting lifestyle jobs from my vacation homes since 2009. I can’t do that kind of job function. In an early stage startup, everyone needs to be there since it’s so collaborative. It’s also a high degree of ad hoc. I’m working a problem and wander over to someone else’s office to shut the door and work through it on the whiteboard. You completely lose that telecommuting. Phone and videoconferencing are no substitute for all the ad hoc things that happen every day. I don’t know how you’d do mentoring of more junior people if they’re all remote.
Yeah, you're not alone in your perspective. But there's a lot of people and evidence on the other side of the divide as well, where remote can still be just as collaborative and productive. We'll see! I'm totally on the fence and excited to see what happens in the coming 5-10 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duderino
If the pandemic hasn't made it clear, I think it will be much more abundantly clear within a couple years that the economy is now fundamentally less location-based than ever, especially in white collar fields.
If tech companies are now rapidly dispersing their workforces more than ever before (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnb...on-valley.html), then things like venture capital and top talent will naturally follow suit.
I think we're FINALLY beginning to see the "flattening" of the world's spiky economic geography that was predicted decades ago. And that will without a doubt continue once COVID subsides.
Yeah I'm from the Richard Florida school and have been amazed by how the superstar cities have defied the expectation flattening. This could finally be the event that leads to this change. We shall see!
This makes no sense at all. If you started a company in Albany, you'd have to import pretty much your whole team. It would be really hard to recruit from the traditional startup centers because if you move to cheapsville, you're forever locked out of the housing market.
How does this square with the fact that a lot of tech companies have been moving from CA to lower-COL states like NV, AZ, and TX? Does that tend to be larger firms that employ more contractors, Indian visa workers, and American fresh college grads, none of whom have as much bargaining power as the veteran devs?
(Please keep posting, this is really interesting --- I've only been in software dev for a few years and don't know much about the startup world)
What is the OP's level of ambition? If you are just trying to bank a few million and retire early you can do that practically anywhere with just a handful of employees. If the app or service requires thousands of people and revenue needs to be in the hundreds of millions than yes a big tech city is beneficial. I'd pick Miami. They posted the BTC whitepaper on the city website.
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