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Comment by michaelochurch | Hacker News Reader

Whatever replaces VC-istan and generates the next wave of great businesses is going to be built by guys like this.

Also, it'll probably happen in the Midwest. Chicago, Austin, Madison, and Minneapolis are among the cities to watch.

Why won't it happen everywhere? At least from what I've seen, it's more of a decentralization than a migration from SV. No sense pre-emptively pigeonholing!

You're right. I think the Midwest has a few advantages, which are (a) excellent universities and (b) low costs of living.

I agree that there are other forms of business organizations, and perhaps other forms of companies. For example B-corps that have non-financial goals, or simply like these guys who essentially have a successful on-the-side business, and explicitly do not want to grow it or market it in the traditional way (and hopefully have the legal protection to do so without somebody from the regular business world eating their lunch). A lot of them seem to revolve around the concept of "having enough" as opposed to "trying to expand."

However, I don't agree that any of these new models are generalizable and will take over the traditional model. VCs did not replace small business loans or Wall Street capitalization. They are an alternative path or sometimes a different step on the same path. The traditional model will contine to exist where it already does, and the new models will have to carve out new niches.

Ya know, I can't explain it, but I've been getting some good vibes from the Midwest lately. (me being a North easterner) Plus the people are pretty awesome. I'd keep Minneapolis on that list too.

+1 for Minneapolis. I pay pretty close attention to the start up scene here and things are starting to move. The Minne* Organization (http://minnestar.org/) does some nice events.

Thanks for this link. I've been looking for groups in the TC area to get involved with.

Don't forget about Denver! Lots of interesting stuff going on here. Between Tech Stars and Galvanize, things are really amazing around here.

I added Minneapolis. I agree. It's a good choice.

I always have to root for Texas, but aren't there quite a few VC-funded companies in Austin?

Austin has traditionally been home to "lifestyle" firms. But there are increasingly firms which have VC funding (from Austin Ventures, etc)

VC-funded != VC-istan. There's a lot of overlap, obviously, but (a) plenty of VCs aren't assholes, and (b) there are good reasons to take VC.

VC-istan is a certain social hierarchy and its surrounding ecosystem. It's a certain game that is played where engineering, design, culture, and even human decency take a backseat to marketing and rent-seeking and ridiculous careerism (like technical pivots that make no engineering sense but support some flavor-of-the-month CTO protege's career goals).

I don't hate every VC-funded company, obviously. Who knows, in ten years I could be running one. I hate the VC darlings with unethical management and, for that, I only find the VCs to be indirectly responsible by being bad judges of character. (Then again, considering some of the companies I worked for, I don't think I'm a great judge of character either.)

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