cmon all you ff'ers - let's see what you say about this one! - Allen Stern

You're 97% right. Lots of great companies have started elsewhere. But where you go wrong is in the reasons why companies move here (like Seesmic, Atlassian, BluePulse, etc). There are some people who are pretty much only available here. Want someone with experience working at Google or Yahoo on huge databases and scaling? Gotta be here, for the most part. Also, the tech press is very heavily centered here (or in New York). So, if you want old-school PR you gotta at least visit here often. - Robert Scoble

Also, lots of VCs will only work with companies that are local. - Robert Scoble

Not a bad article. True, there are VCs who have never had offices in Silicon Valley. But really, start where you start, you can always move. - Nope Not Listed Here

Robert, this is also a strong reason for employees to be here as well. I moved from Ann Arbor, where there were only two companies that need the type of 3d animation I do. Here, there are literally 100s of companies and many operate on a large scale. I and most tech workers like the security. - Doug Brooks

Doug: that's true. I've been all over the world and there's no place like Silicon Valley in terms of the expertise that's available here (and the number of choices available to those geeks). If you are a geek in NY and get fired, there aren't many choices. Here? You'll have hundreds of choices. - Robert Scoble

Isn't the article more about do's and don'ts of a startup?! Either the title was written to get people to look at it or, the plot was lost after the first half :) I agree with most points you make. Like, starting a company in Silicon valley just coz of things like "talent", "Vc"s is just lame. If you believe in an idea worth believing in, it wouldn't matter where you are. - Shivanand Velmurugan

Original ideas may better come from outside of Silicon Valley initially, but it will almost always come to a point where VC's want to keep a close eye on their investment and plan their exit strategy. - Jeremy Campbell from twhirl

Shivanand try and hire 30 animators in a couple days in the mid west :) Talent is a very good reason to choose location. - Doug Brooks

Shivanand: you're wrong. It's pretty clear you've never started a business that needs talent to grow, particularly certain kinds of talent. There's a reason why Marvel Films and Lucas Films are both located here. - Robert Scoble

Alot of good points, but I still wonder about a few points. If its about who you know... wouldn't proximity to influencers, investors, and pioneers in your field be an ideal advantage? At minimum, just in "starting" you start-up. You could be an actor anywhere in the world, but wouldn't Hollywood be the most opportune place to get a start? - Adam Helweh

“Another quick note. A friend of mine said ot me recently "The Silicon Valley is the only place you can tell off your boss one day and walk across the street and get a job with the competitor the next." Same reason why so many come to the U.S.... opportunity in abundance.” - Adam Helweh

robert - hundreds of choices of what? - Allen Stern

i like @adam's take: you can be an actor anywhere but if you want to be in big-studio, high-production value movies with worldwide distribution potential, you improve your chances by being in hollywood, and if you want to be a big-time high tech entrepreneur, living in silicon valley has to be a big advantage in the startup stages, and perhaps beyond. - .LAG liked that

Adam, the one thing to watch out for is that very boss might be hired by the competitor the week after :) This is true though, I was with a start up 3 years ago and started my current gig exactly 3 days after that company went south. It blew me away since it took 6 months to get out of Ann Arbor prior to that. - Doug Brooks

Allen: tech companies to work for. - Robert Scoble

There is no job security in this world anymore. One thing is for sure when we talk about start-ups or anyone else starting a business.... unfortunately most of them fail. Talent will usually root itself where failure can turn into a quick rebound. - Adam Helweh

I don't see many actual statistics in the article, which IMHO would put the lie to some of the words from you and the VCs. It takes a village. The Silicon Valley ecosystem and web of personal contacts has yet to be xeroxed. Half the VC in the world flows through Menlo Park, and half of that stays between route 280 and route 101. - Indio Apache from twhirl

Agreed starting up a company in the rural U.S. would be quite challenging, but at the same time many of his points hit home - plus, I enjoyed the NYC hometown-love throughout the piece. Tim's a sharp guy - he and I had a great discussion during this past Internet Week NY about... guess what... all of the superb talent and fantastic ideas floating around the Alley lately that get overshadowed by the Valley, but have the potential for a significant impact on the future of technology. - Tom Harrison