Startups in Vancouver
Just found this post on Brian’s blog and its so good I’ll reiterate it here, where Jeff Griffiths comments on starting Flickr in Vancouver:
I would go even further and say that one of the critical success factors for Flickr *was* that they were not just 'toiling in obscurity', but that they were IN Vancouver. Up here we have lots of talent, a relatively low cost of living ( compared to the valley at least ), and all sorts of added lifestyle bonuses that San jose will never beat ( climbing / biking / snowboarding / music ). And for Flickr in particular, a major part of their early success was a loyal local following of users; witness the hugeness of the Vancouver tag. I would smugly theorize that Flickr's ability to find their users was helped in a large way by their being in Vancouver, a city that seems to breed tech-obsessed shutterbugs more than most places. I dunno, I think it's probably a bad time to start a company in San Jose, but it's hard to say when that would ever be true given Caterina's qualifications. Vancouver, on the other hand, seems to be a fine place to ( re ) start a company...
At the time I of course would have pointed out that Enfold was another company in that list that’s running in Vancouver and hiring. Since that’s not the case, point moot. However I spent many times it seems saying “No I’m not moving to Houston*” I love it here. I still do and I think its a great place to start a company.
- Houston is the lowest ranked city in US (68), Vancouver the highest in North America (3). We’ve heard this one many times before anyway.