Paul Graham Strikes Again

I love reading Paul Graham. He’s a must read for anyone in the technology business, especially anyone who is either involved with or considering a startup. His latest essay, “How to Fund a Startup” is an excellent read and very timely for me. Howevever I do take exception to his third note, which states:

[3] If “near you” doesn’t mean the Bay Area, Boston, or Seattle, consider moving. It’s not a coincidence you haven’t heard of many startups from Philadelphia.

If the Internet has done anything, it’s changed the dynamics of the workplace such that it doesn’t really matter where you’re located anymore. I’m still highly in favor of having a physical office and a place where people can collaborate, but as long as you can find your core team where you’re located, you can fill in the rest from wherever in the world you so choose. I lived in Arkansas for 23 years. I’ve lived in Seattle for 2. I’ve met a lot of technology people out here, and lot of them are very smart, but I also know a lot of incredibly smart technology people back home in Arkansas as well. I’d take anyone’s bet that I could start a software company and develop software on par with any California company from my home state (perhaps with some work filled in from overseas or out of state, but that’s what this whole Internet thing is about). If we’re still thinking that all successful startup technology companies need to be located in one of those three places, things really haven’t changed. I’m very disappointed in Paul, because I would have thought of all the people I respected and read on a regular basis he would have thought differently. I guess old prejudices never die.