West Coast v East Coast Tech Scene Mudslinging
Antonio at Adgrok collates a grab bag of reasons as to why NYC isn’t as good a place for (tech) start-ups, but forgets a few keypoints: NYC is the world center for finance, entertainment, art, and media circles, while the Bay Area is the center of its own circle. Silicon Valley was originally the outgrowth of government funding for Standford, and later for the development of the semiconductor industry. The rest just happened because the VCs and established companies were there. So, once VCs and established tech companies exist in NYC — which we are seeing — we can expect similar results.
I lived in SF halftime for five years and I was struck by how insular the tech scene is. Perhaps my disaffection was personal, or I am simply more of an east coast guy. But I think New York is the place where the most social scenes intersect, here in America. It has what Brian Eno calls scenius, the communal form of genius, in abundance. True, SF has its own scenius as well, but it is narrower, more tech-obsessed, and less international than NYC’s.
The fact that Antonio doesn’t give that a value higher than low-cost housing is a sign of some of what is wrong in the Bay Area these days.
And trying to diss NYC’s food offerings is laughable. But I agree about Katz’s Deli making a great pastrami.
