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Just thought I'd throw that in here.
Keep doing what you do - I've an archive to catch-up on.
@Prokofy: I would argue that depending on how high tech your company directly relates to how much social media can really help you. I think that a company for example working on advanced nanotechnology would garner more respect in the industry by being feature in the Gilder Tech Report than being mentioned on Engadget or TechCrunch or talked about by many people on Twitter. But something that's simple like FriendFeed, would benefit more from social media than traditional press. Ultimately it really depends on who your product is being marketed towards. In the case of the nanotech, you won't be selling your product to the average consumer. It would be more of a B2B model, in which social media really wouldn't help you at all and industry trade press would. But if you have a product targeting regular consumers, social media should play a crucial role.
Keep it comin'
Thank you very much for mentioning the Democracy Censorship Law.
Tech companies that do business with Israel should know that Israel might get too similar to its Mid East neighbors and show their concerns.
"Never let the true facts get in the way of a Good story" I guess this was before blogging then.
It is interesting though that in a technology that is supposed to make physical locations irrelevant that conversations still seem to be very "SF, London, Paris, Hong Kong " based.
Ben Metcalfe has commented before that the reason he went to SF was to be taken seriously as a professional in the industry. To a certain extent the scene is eating its own catfood with the belief that location is equal to respect.
I know I have ranted on this topic quite a few times pointing out that the tech scene in the UK is quite USA focussed. Which is suprising when you consider how much in the eighties we were driving the computer scene. Oh well things move on but stay the same eh.
Thanks for the Post and thanks for getting out of the Valley.
Have a nice stay in Israel
Yotam
Anyway, maybe it's time for some innovation that would bring tech world closer together - like a virtual conference or something.
In Ireland we use forums such as open coffee to promote startups and related research. We also have events such as it@cork (you gave a talk at this event in 2005). We don't have the VC culture that you have in california which is why the collison brothers headed over there last year to setup auctomatic which they sold to live media a few weeks ago.
Failure is not tolerated by Irish banks and the majority of govt agencies. We do have agencies such as enterprise Ireland who provide incubator services and grants to allow companies to find their feet over a 2 - 3 year period. You still have to figure out how you are going to eat and pay the bills however.
Trips such as Paddy's valley have been organised in a response to this. Techludd is also proving very popular. Companies such as microsoft now realise that they should be supporting these fledging events as it may pay dividends in the future.
In the past 18 months we have started to get more organised about startups and research as lecturer in Tipperary Institute we continue to push this agenda.
Keep up the good work
Regards
Liam @vpn
this statement is so fucked up:
"if you’re a blogger and let the facts get in the way of a good headline you’ll never go anywhere"
stop by in Slovenia when you have time! We'll show you around, you won't regret it. :)
bye
andraz
The Tulsa Business Journal had an article on just how biased the geography disadvantage plays out. It's rough on us startups in mid-America.
Mike Butcher yes, that was link bait. You really need to get a better radar for link bait. I think we'll call that "lbdar."
Tech in the Valley is just like Film in LA, VCs slash Studios are too lazy to sniff at anything more than a hours drive away, and view anyone not 'here', as not worthy. A systematic approach irrespective of geography-eliteism, focusing on the quality and marketability of said development, is the best (but never taken) route. Welcome to the den of common sense default, but nothing so invisible as the obvious.
One of those don't belong. Rackspace is a well known name that I think a lot of people have heard.
I reiterate what Yotam said, enjoy your stay here. (and I'm a tourguide... in case you get lost ;) )
You can check out Zigron Inc (www.zigron.com) which I co-founded but the imp fact is look at the work our offshore resources have done for startups like Wherever.tv, ourlikes.com,persontation.com, ibeatyou.com or qpondirect.com . You will be surprised that alot of the product development was done by these developers who are in this far away land.
You can also find some energy at http://buzz.ittazee.com
I know that this offshore work in Pakistan is not at all comparable to Silicon Valley but be careful like everything else anyone can catch up or even by pass by just like Tel Aviv is doing :-)
So Robert, it will be great if you can a specific blog just to cover regions mainstream blogs ignore.I am sure like me many people will love to be volunteer reporters for you.
http://blog.bos.genotrope.com/2008/03/16/michae...
Couldn't agree with you more. To some degree I don't think it is intentional but more along the lines of meeting people after work for drinks ... you just can't do that if you aren't in the same city.
I believe the problem for startups outside the US is market size.
Outside the US startups have a much harder time conquering a market of equal size to the US ... look at Europe. Those startups need to translate their service into X languages in order to reach the same number of people. Therefore it is so much easier to simply shoot for the US market ... and it is probably best/easiest to do that from within the US.
It's the same for film and tech: in the US silicon valley is simply THE place to be just as La for film/TV.
Very true. We are down in sunny Florida. Same climate as California, but without the shiny tech scene. We recently had FOWA down in Miami and I think it helped to open eyes of what is happening down in the 'dirty south.'
It's a tough flight out to San Fran for a quick visit with top bloggers and industry types as opposed to a walk down the block in Silly Valley.
Hopefully with the globalization that things like Twiiter, Pownce, Blogging and other means bring, we will be able to take our excitement and share it with the people that matter.
The real question is of the VC's. Start-ups down here should be able to connect with VC's from Florida and not be entirely dependent on a trip your way. I think it is happening but we have a long way to go to get the people with the money in our region confident on the effects of the web.
Met you very briefly at Mix08, though you were interviewing Chris Saad at the time so attention was sparing :)
South Africa, my home country is also producing some pretty cool tech startups. Sites like www.afrigator.com, www.blueworld.co.za, www.synthasite.com and more are just some examples of signs that even in the Southern-most tip of Africa we're pushing the boundaries of innovation on the Web. Though I do agree that we're less likely to get noticed because most of the online world doesn't know Africa exists :P
Um hello, location location location! Any respectable entrepreneur needs to be where the action is. Film -> Hollywood. Tech -> Silicon Valley. Finance -> NY, London. Fashion -> Paris. Nerds -> MIT. They are elite but not elitist and definitely not lazy. If you have something to prove, get your ass out there and prove it among the best. That is how you get respect. Remember Facebook moved from the Boston area, a tech hub, to an even bigger tech hub in Palo Alto. Expecting people to come to you is a losing strategy.
I think it's great you're traveling to different places and sharing an insightful perspective on those experiences.
And sharp job as managing director in your FastCompany videos. Hope you maintain the energy and continue sharing, it's appreciated by a lot of people.
Oh, and according to Wikipedia, Robert is visiting Silicon Wadi.
Have a great trip!
Furthermore, not a very astute commentary you're trying to make with this whole post. It is a no brainer that the locality you live in biases how much focus you give on a topic.
Kambiz
http://desistartups.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/op...
I agree with you. The further companies are from silicon valley, the less respect they get from the 'technorati' - the bloggers, the press, the VC community, even though their innovation is in many cases extraordinary.
That's exactly why I started the VC CAFE (http://www.vccafe.com)in 2005 - to give visibility to early stage Israeli startups and venture capital deal flow in Israel.
VC Cafe has been featured by the WSJ and ranked as one of the top 100 vc blogs.
Following a successful Israeli startup roundtable in March, We're having a local gathering here in San Francisco.
Join Israeli entrepreneurs, VCs, bloggers, investors and members of the press on May 2nd in the financial
district in San Francisco.
RSVP in the event page on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16708300870
I realise it's impossible to travell to these places, so you need local contacts.
Think about how the news is done today - more often than not there will be a chief reporter local in most regions.
Nige
That statement is not overall always true, as it depends on whom you are dealing with, though some won't sniff unless you are on Wilshire or in the Bay Area area (true enough), but you will get the usual copycat-churn that way. And it is also a losing strategy expecting everyone to just handfeed/worship you (Blogger, Sand Hill or New Line style). Sometimes the best things are the things you hunt for, finding the real hidden talents. Investigative reporting can pay dividends. The VC/Dev Exec that discovers the "killer app" that no one else has a lock on, wins that much bigger. A good enough quality product with a good enough market demand, and people do end up coming to you.
Geography makes not the Great American Script nor the Great American Software. John Hughes operated from Illinois, and true, he went to people, but he always HQ'ed in the Midwest. And most of the (even still) current comedy vets came from Second City alumni. And the entire INDIE Sundance scene is a testament that there is actual life beyond LA, they didn't play the Studio dance tunes. Plus EVERYONE in in Vancouver these days anyways, forget LA and the high prices, defecting to Canada is the old (but still new) trend.
Expecting everything to come to you works BOTH ways you know. You only applied that formula in one direction.
but CA and MAs have the infrastructure dont forget that SV grew out of the masive space and defence industrys - its intersting though the both MA and CA have more employee friedly laws
still at last you have a VC culture in the uk teh dominant role model is the failed barow boy "sirallen" and his motley crew of "property developers"
http://www.jewwatch.com has all of the facts on that nation including 5,000 stories per day outlining their constant murders in Gaza and elsewhere.
A good enough product, and you can not only expect but DEMAND people come to you. Not saying that's always a wise move, but it's an option. Make the best product, escape expensive California, head to Utah or Nevada, clear low overhead, market to the players, and have a branch office in the centers, if such is needed.
Hubs do birth products, and sometimes the only way to be noticed, is to be there and compete in those waters, come what may. But just because you are 'there' doesn't automatically mean you are 'all that'. Most of what's 'there' is half gimmickry.
And hubs change all the time, and they spread out, LA is no longer king of all, nor is Palo Alto. Not seeing where the map is expanding, can be fatal.
So yes, you can't expect everything to come to you, nor should you, but yet sometimes you can. And sometimes you need to be there, other times it's a waste, other sometimes you can go hybrid, being in a few or all places at once. It's all complicated, absurd and illogical, human behavior being what it is, it won't ever fit into neat little boxes.
What on Earth makes you say this? The Chinese bave been building business all around the world for hundreds of years - long before Israel's 1948 founding. On what grounds do you say they are not as entreprenuerial as Israel? I've been to both countries, and China is just as entrenuerial as anywhere else.
The reason China won't be a Silicon Valley is not going to be on account of entreprenuerial spirit. The correct reason is just as Paul Graham mentions - IT'S A POLICE STATE!
I would not piss on it if it were on fire.
For sure this would not change your global view, just would give some additional items. There is not just Web3 event here ;)
Deal?
(From Phil O L I V E T)
And you're right, Israel is a very productive land in technologies... and maybe unique place in some specific domain.