The Tech Diaspora Acceleration so far 1-2021

Andreas Klinger 🏝@andreasklinger

2019: You can't recreate Silicon Valley anywhere else. 2020: Well… Silicon Valley is more of a mindset. 2021: I heard Miami is great.

will.vc@boujeehacker

@paulg Having lived in both (Austin and Miami currently) and SF for 5 years. Something special is happening in Miami right now. I decided to move here last year after running out of gas dealing with SF' issues vs it's cost. The pandemic has accelerated that eval for others.

will.vc@boujeehacker

@paulg Austin is farther along this curve than Miami currently but the spark started by some high profile recent relocations and people being inspired by @FrancisSuarez 's encouragement is helping it grow into a flame.

Mayor Francis Suarez @FrancisSuarez

How can I help? https://t.co/hIC1k8ka1i

balajis.com@balajis

First, cities will start priding themselves on recruiting star tech talent & companies just like they do famous athletes & the occasional team. Second, crypto means everyone in a city can get shares in a company as a crypto dividend, so they have a real rooting interest online.

Antonio García Martínez @antoniogm

Instead of the current tech journalism model whereby people who could never land tech jobs and possess no skills whatsoever opine and militate furiously about it, imagine we had the sportscaster model whereby former great technologists comment on developments in real time.

Anthemos Georgiades@anthemos

I know there's a lot of hype about Miami & Austin as future tech hubs And I know some people think it's just a couple of people moving But it's real Here is week on week @Zumper message trend data by city (from millions of people): 🌴 Miami: +36% ⭐️ Austin: +23% 🌉 SF: +6%

will.vc@boujeehacker

@lolitataub @teach_vc Remote is here. We've got 6 to 9 months min until people can realistically be ordered back to the office. If there was a time bring other areas close to the SF bay area in terms of network and talent strength or bring remote close enough to parity... It's now. ☝️Gold mine 🪙

Mike Solana@micsolana

technology workers did not "extract" value from the bay area, they are what makes the bay area valuable. fight or flight is a choice we all have to make, but we are not the property of any government, and certainly not a local government that hates us.

solana.substack.com

Extract or Die

balajis.com@balajis

Because they are still operating on a 20th century mindset where there is gold (or silicon) in them thar hills. They haven’t yet fully grasped that an immigrant can snap open a laptop in Budapest, Bangalore, or Buenos Aires and get to work just like they used to in the Bay Area.

Bobby Goodlatte @rsg

Imagine if San Francisco city leaders spoke about attracting startups, talent, and investment like @FrancisSuarez of Miami. Why doesn’t this happen?

balajis.com@balajis

The global competition for tech talent has begun. COVID has kicked off the remotening.

Mayor Francis Suarez @FrancisSuarez

This is just the beginning! https://t.co/xhYlZntOla

balajis.com@balajis

Migration > election N-city system > two-party system Exit > voice Remote > commute Rest of world > SF Bay Area Decentralized > centralized

David Sacks@DavidSacks

1/ Logical implication of the war for knowledge workers: Well-run cities will start to resemble SaaS companies. They will have ARR, Sales, CSM, Marketing, and R&D. Here’s what I mean...

David Sacks @DavidSacks

Cities used to compete for jobs and tax revenue by attracting companies. In the era of remote work, they will compete to attract knowledge workers. Individuals can relocate much more easily than companies. This will swiftly reward competent cities and punish incompetent ones.

balajis.com@balajis

Mayor Suarez has single handedly reformed politics Twitter. First, politicians around the world now understand they can recruit constituents with their tweets. Second, they now understand they can *lose* constituents with their tweets.

Ryan Hoover @rrhoover

@rsg @FrancisSuarez Agree. I never understood why most politicians treat Twitter solely as a promotional/broadcast/signaling tool when they could be building community by listening and engaging in conversation. @garyvee understood this a decade ago.

will.vc@boujeehacker

@ClaireThielke @Twitter @web @BrianBrackeen @alexisohanian If by it you mean the Miami tech enthusiasm wave 🌊 Definitely this one.

Mayor Francis Suarez @FrancisSuarez

How can I help? https://t.co/hIC1k8ka1i

Bobby Goodlatte@rsg

Something big is happening with this SF exodus — I don’t think most are fully grasping the impact this will have. The center of gravity for tech is a jump-ball at the moment. And smart mayors like Miami’s @FrancisSuarez are jumping for it.

jason@calacanis.com@Jason

1/I’ve embraced remote work completely like all tech folks have been forced too, & I’m afraid & inspired that the gains are so significant for employees that many/most will not go back to offices This is going to lead to a crazy, competitive chess board for funds & startups.

jason@calacanis.com@Jason

3/Nope. The top developers, writers, sales executives, product people, marketers, investing, finance executives, etc. will be able to say the following to big companies: "I am only looking for job opportunities that allow me to work from home." That's it. Done. Employees win.

Sam Altman@sama

If you want to have the biggest possible impact in tech, I think you should still move to the Bay Area. The people here, and the network effects caused by that, are worth it. It's hard to overstate the magic of lots of competent, optimistic people in one place.

Keith Rabois@rabois

@sama this is what all of the incumbents our startups say when they are confronted by the companies we fund.

will.vc@boujeehacker

@sama Concur even as a person actively promoting other places as Ive written before

will.vc @boujeehacker

@arrington 1/Contrarian moves to SF are already happening and I think are important. Though I'm in the camp that's promoting other places I'm not wishing for the death of the SF bay as a tech hub. I'm just excited for a chance to have other places catch up to provide healthy competition.

will.vc@boujeehacker

@paulg Love Austin and Miami, (and famously not SF's biggest fan..) will be personally doing everything I can to help the other scenes grow to compete with the Bay Area. I think it's stranglehold on tech's top talent has caused an overfitting on the types of problems the talent tackles.

Pete Flint@peteflint

What many don’t appreciate about tech and VC migration from the Bay Area is that this is not a zero sum game.  Migration of talent, ideas and capital will ultimately unlock much opportunity today than concentrating it. That’s a great thing. There are only winners here.

Brad Feld@bfeld

The Great HQ Migration

feld.com

The Great HQ Migration - Feld Thoughts

will.vc@boujeehacker

@ClaireThielke @Twitter @web @BrianBrackeen @alexisohanian CNN also did a piece (Title only mentions Texas but the body talks about the story around Miami also)

cnn.com

Elon Musk is leaving Silicon Valley for Texas. These millionaires and companies are joining him

Joe Doliner@jdoliner

There may never be a better time for tech to use voice, because the threat of exit may never be this credible again. Convincing people to stay only discredits it. Now is the time to go to SV pols and say: "Hey, we gotta stop the bleeding, what can we do?"

Matthew Prince 🌥@eastdakota

The collective hallucination that this is about “taxes” rather than finding somewhere talented junior engineers can afford their own apartment and senior engineering managers can afford a nice house—because sensible housing policies—will be what kills SF.

ktvu.com

Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

SKP@shervin

cc ⁦@FrancisSuarez⁩ ⁦@rabois⁩

nationalreview.com

Escape from Silicon Valley | National Review

jason@calacanis.com@Jason

Prediction: We will see a top 10 VC firm announce the relocation of thier HQ to a purple-ish state (Florida, Texas , etc ) in 2021 Theory: easier to live in a low regulation red state and be part of turning it purple-ish than try make California moderate again #MaCMA

Jessica Lessin@Jessicalessin

Introducing @theinformation’s Techodus list of execs who have left the Bay Area. The trend is real. Implications will be important to follow. We will keep this updated for subscribers.

theinformation.com

The Information’s Techodus List

Sam Altman@sama

If you want to have the biggest possible impact in tech, I think you should still move to the Bay Area. The people here, and the network effects caused by that, are worth it. It's hard to overstate the magic of lots of competent, optimistic people in one place.

Zach Coelius@zachcoelius

This Miami meme is becoming moronic. Miami has literally no tech of any sorts. Do you guys really misunderstand network effects that badly? Rich VCs moving there to avoid taxes does not do it...

Ale Resnik@AleResnik

They key here is that there is zero to negative benefits for entrepreneurs and executives to make decisions about location now. Wait till October 2021. Zero first mover advantage.

Bill Gurley @bgurley

This will surprise no one, but it really doesn’t matter if VCs change cities. The real question is about entrepreneurs AND key functional executives (always a limiter for other markets). Money always travels.

will.vc@boujeehacker

@AleResnik This statement assumes two things 1) strictly co located office work will be proven to be unequivocally always more successful than remote or hybrid 2) if s1 holds that people would always choose the success of their company or their job prospects over quality and cost of living

will.vc@boujeehacker

@AleResnik Jury is still on on s1 and most of the white collar world is ready to see especially over terrible commutes of yesterday.

will.vc@boujeehacker

@AleResnik On s2 we already know that that is not true from the large pool of talented people that do not choose to move to SF / SV already. After 18 months of being effective doing remote work through a global pandemic; you think that pool is going to shrink when things go back to normal?

Ric Burton 🇬🇧 ‣ 🇺🇸@ricburton

San Francisco has been totally rebooted for startups: - Office space is really cheap - Big company chumps have all left - Large tech campuses are closed down for the foreseeable future - Rent is plummeting each month - Young kids are filling the vacuum Bullish long term 🚀

will.vc@boujeehacker

@ricburton @zebulgar Agree (and I left before the pandemic. I have receipts.) Competion will make us all better. May the best teams and scenes win!

jason@calacanis.com@Jason

Take your pick: Miami, Austin, Houston, Reno, Utah, Boulder, Vegas; anywhere pro-capitalism, low cost of living, & socially liberal will win startups/high-tax earners cities that are liberal, expensive BUT with socialist/anti-business leaders lose (@AOC @LondonBreed etc)

vishal.blog @vgurbuxani

@Jason @balajis @chesaboudin @LondonBreed @Jason what city outside San Francisco, would you recommend in the US?

George Mack@george__mack

The biggest winners of the digital age: The Individual The biggest losers of the digital age: The Government In an age where people can work wherever they want - the individual has all the power. Governments will start competing with each other.

George Mack@george__mack

The government monopoly is dying. People won't just vote for the other party - they can now vote with their feet. No news channel is reporting on this. It's the biggest revolution in history.

Mayor Francis Suarez@FrancisSuarez

It’s been quite a month...

David Jacobs @DavidJacobsLive

Is anyone having a better month than @FrancisSuarez ?

Moishe Mana@MoisheMana

Miami as the next global tech hub -- from @nbc6 I agree! @FrancisSuarez @LauraNBC6 @refreshmiami @ABenton @MariaDerchi @MichelleAbbs

Evan Loeffler@EvanLoeffler2

@edward_gorbis @ProfileRead @FrancisSuarez @polina_marinova Hey Edward! Fellow ex WeWorker here. Wrote something about Mayor Suarez's approach, would love to have you check it out:

tower.substack.com

If You Tweet It They Will Come

will.vc@boujeehacker

@aaaaathena If you want to learn about Miami follow @bunsen and check out his detailed threads about it i.e

Auston Bunsen ⚡️ QuikNode.io @bunsen

So you’re moving to Miami & you want to know about the tech scene... a mega thread (part 1):

Romeen Sheth@RomeenSheth

1/ Last night I tweeted that Atlanta is on absolute fire. 2,300+ liked the tweet. There’s a special energy building here. So what is going on in this “overnight success hub”? Hint - it’s been 15 years in the making. Time for a 🔥 thread 👇👇👇

Romeen Sheth @RomeenSheth

Atlanta startups are on fire 🔥 Calendly - raising at $3B valuation OneTrust - $2.5B valuation Greenlight - $1B+ valuation Kabbage - just sold for $800M. We have hit an inflection point in Atlanta - the next 10 years are going to be really runs

will.vc@boujeehacker

@MoniqMills @Jason @AOC @LondonBreed I think the big thing that need to happen is a coordinated marketing campaign towards it. #atltech or something like that. @Mailchimp @Calendly are just a few incredibly successful companies built in the A. There are also great accelerators in @TechSquare. Is there a big list? 1/

Nkem Nwankwo@NkemNwan

@MoniqMills @boujeehacker @Jason @AOC @LondonBreed @Mailchimp @Calendly @TechSquare @atdc #gojackets over here as well. As you all already know, the talent is here. The ideas are here. The startups are here. The money has been a little slower to come, especially from the West coast. Does it have to come from there though?

Paul Judge, Ph.D.@pauljudge

Atlanta and the Southeast have all the right ingredients. I enjoyed chatting with @AlexisTVNews on @YahooFinance https://t.co/38JBM35xCA

Yahoo Finance @YahooFinance

“You have all the right ingredients to build the next generation of tech companies just in Atlanta,” @panoramicvc Co-Founder @pauljudge says on launching $300M fund. “The Southeast has been on a tear lately, and it’s really time for a fund to help fuel this next phase of growth.” https://t.co/Z9XLXTvt2A

will.vc@boujeehacker

Re: austin

will.vc @boujeehacker

@aaaaathena If want to lean about Austin @noahkagan has some good stuff https://t.co/DHYhS6twOD Also check out @CapitalFactory