Is there a Silicon Valley advantage?

Very true. When I started representing startups in the Valley in the mid-80's, the overwhelming majority of the founders were "locals." Since 2000 at least, this pattern has decidedly shifted, at least for the companies I represent (with a clear majority now being either immigrants or from first-generation immigrant families, many from India).

There is also a decided international emphasis today in terms of Valley companies using resources (people, investment sources, etc.) not at all centered in the Valley as they used to be.

The Valley connection does remain important in many key ways, however, as noted in the post - in my judgment, it is still by far the best place to be for a significant number of startups.

A good, balanced post on this issue.

In California non-competes are all but unenforceable (there are exceptions but they don't make much difference). It's hard to express just how much of a difference this makes (I've experienced the reverse in the above areas); go back to the beginning of the Silicon part when the Traitorous Eight left Shockley, followed by so many leaving Fairchild and e.g. founding Intel. I've read that the cross-fertilization between companies had a lot to do with the rapid developments in that field.

Silicon Valley is said to have a better attitude towards failure and the most savvy set of VCs on earth (OK, the latter is less important nowadays).

On the other hand, it's said to be rather ageist, not that that would be unique.

All in all, if I had been capable of dealing with the traffic I would have moved there, it sure looked and looks to be the best place for startups. The only place? Clearly not, and I suspect its advantages are somewhat less important nowadays. But I'm sure for a whole lot of fields it's still the place where a startup has the best chance of success.

So how much of the advantage is just having a pool of experienced talent locally available? How much of a difference does being able to sit in front of a white board and hash out an idea with a coworker face to face make for an internet company? Is the nearby presence of hardware companies still a significant advantage in some way? Did all these people just move to silicon valley because it made sense to go where everyone else in the industry went?

I was a bit disappointed that the article didn't really try to address these points.

How