Great viewpoint on Seattle (and Vancouver by proxy) vs. Silicon Valley for tech startups

I just read Glenn Kelman’s article “How Green Was My Valley” comparing Seattle and Silicon Valley. Glenn is building redfin in Seattle after spending some years in The Valley. I think the main insight is that Seattle isn’t trying to “copy” the Valley, and how that’s a good thing:

None of us thinks Seattle is ever going to be much like Silicon Valley. We believe instead that what other cities can learn from Seattle is how to be different than the Valley, not the same.

There’s a bit of a movement afoot here in Vancouver to bring some of the excitement (and money) of the Silicon Valley startup scene to town. Glenn’s article brings some nice perspective that I think the Vancouver crew needs to keep in mind. There’s simply no place on earth like San Francisco / Silicon Valley, and keeping focussed on what makes Vancouver different is important.

So how is Vancouver different in an advantageous way? I think one thing, right now at least, is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to bring foreign talent into the US. Glenn says this:

And this is what Michael [Arrington] loves about the Valley: that it calls out at dog-whistle frequencies to nerds across America, Russia, India and China. The single-mindedness of their migration belongs in National Geographic.

The current crackdown on H1-B Visas, and, IMO at least, America’s tactics on the global stage, are keeping some of these foreign geeks and entrepreneurs that have traditionally flocked to the Valley away. I had the privilege of going through university with a few people who are vasty smarter than me and went on to do PhD’s and do amazing research at top US schools. They’ve worked for Valley startups, and float back and forth between academia and “industry”. 3 out of the group of 6 of us have already moved back to Canada, one has moved to Dublin, and the last one is planning on moving to Montreal in the summer. And of course I worked in Seattle for 2 years, and currently work for a San Francisco startup *from Vancouver*. It’s a small sample set, yes, and a regime change in the next US election could change things entirely. But in the mean time, I think Vancouver needs to milk the fact that it’s easy to immigrate here, like Seattle there’s a variety of lifestyle advantages, yet Vancouver is still within striking distance to the Valley (there are frequent <2hr flights to SFO). Being close to center of the tech universe is absolutely critical, as Glenn points out:

The cult of the new may seem like madness but here’s the method to it: what’s often most difficult about developing a new idea is figuring out if it’s already an old idea. A business just like the one you’ve been dreaming of may already be forming within Google, or preparing to launch on its own.

When you and everyone you know spend 18 hours a day downloading, hacking, breaking, sharing, gossiping, criticizing and arguing about the Web, it’s easier to tell when an idea is truly new. And if you don’t, it’s almost impossible to catch up.

Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland all share the “quick access to the Valley” and “lifestyle” perks pluses. But only Vancouver comes with Canadian immigration policies and free healthcare.

One of Glen’s points I’m having trouble grappling with re Vancouver is the cost of life factor:

No one in the Valley can afford to grow up. Just as stressful environments delay the onset of sexual maturity in marsupials, a high cost of living – a two-bedroom house in Palo Alto typically costs more than $1.5 million — prevents people from buying homes and having children. In Silicon Valley, Seattle’s 28 year-old family man is still working his tail off for a hit.

Vancouver and Seattle both have seen dramatic increases in housing costs in the last decade. Certainly it’s nothing like the Valley or San Francisco, but it’s anything but cheap to live in the Pacific Northwest’s cities these days, and it looks like that trend isn’t going to turn around. What does that mean for startups in Vancouver? Are the demographics of who can form or be hired by a startup in Vancouver any different than the Valley? I’m not entirely sure. I think as an individual you can try a startup here with lower risk to your personal financial well-being (how anybody lives in California without healthcare is truly beyond me). Maybe that’s something. I don’t know.

The bottom line though? I can work for a startup while having a family in Vancouver. It certainly wouldn’t be impossible for me to do that in the Bay area, but it would be a lot harder. Is this a factor in how to build successful startups here? No idea, to be honest. And the truth of the matter is that I would still considering moving to the San Francisco area under the right circumstances. Perhaps that’s a hint of the ultimate solution then. Hybrid startups. Startups need to attract the best talent, from the biggest “pool” possible. The under 30s go to the Valley and sleep on the couch in crummy apartments and stay plugged into the scene. The international talent, and perhaps the talent that has or wants to start a family go to Vancouver where they can still be active within a vibrant tech community, yet can offer perks like healthcare and the outdoors to their families. Seems like a win-win to me.