Sounds perfect. I've always wondered how big of a startup scene is in the area, and I'd love to meet some of the people in the area with similar interests.
Oh, sure. Have your first meetup after I just lived there for 3 years and then relocated to SF :)
Seriously though, this is good news. RTP is a great place to live, and the cost of living is much much lower than out west. RTP is long overdue for a much needed infusion of startup culture. There are plenty of smart people living there working for Big Corps (just as I did), but the network and money for startups just isn't in place quiet yet. I would love to see it thrive there one day.
I will almost certainly move to RTP within 3-5 years. My fiancee is from Burlington and she's extremely close to her family, so I can only keep her in SF for so long :) I'd like the move too since I'm also from the South.
For those of you that are employed in the area, what are the job options besides RedHat? I enjoyed the challenges at the YC startup I was at previously and I'm really enjoying working at LinkedIn now. While the move is very far away for me, I'm worried about a possible lack of interesting positions and a smaller talent pool to run my own startup.
I'm not sure the talent pool is measurably smaller if you're looking for people to help with a startup, but I've never even been to SF. There are several fairly decent universities in the area NCSU, Duke, & UNC that feed plenty of smart people into the workforce.
While the move is very far away for me, I'm worried about
a possible lack of interesting positions and a smaller
talent pool to run my own startup.
I can't compare with the Bay Area, since I've never lived there, but this area is known for having a lot of smart, talented, well educated people. The whole concept behind this area being known as "The Triangle" was based on the presence of 3 research universities (UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and NC State) forming a triangular shaped area. In addition to the big three, there are several smaller colleges in the immediate area: Meredith, Peace, St. Augustine's, NC Central, Durham Tech, Wake Tech, and Campbell jump to mind. With the presence of IBM, SAS, Red Hat, Cisco, and others, there is a constant influx of tech savvy people from other areas of the country. In particular, this area seems to pull a lot of people from Northern climates (Pennsylvania seems to send a lot of folks here) maybe because of the weather?
Anyway, just to illustrate a point about the Triangle... Cary (smaller city on the outskirts of Raleigh) is reported to have - IIRC - the highest concentration of Phd holders (per capita) of any city in the United States. Now it's not necessarily the case that Phd == talent, but the point is that people here are smart and well educated in general. Forgot any stereotypes about "Southerners," the Triangle is it's own little nice with different demographics from the more rural areas. (Not that there aren't plenty of smart, well educated people in the rest of NC as well, mind you).
If anything, the problem we have here is how to keep the smart kids who graduate from Duke, UNC, NCSU, etc, in the area. Since this area doesn't - yet - have the reputation for being a startup hub, it seems that people come here, go to school, and then start thinking about moving to San Fran or somewhere "sexy." There are a number of us here who want to change the culture here so that people think more in terms of founding (or joining) startups here. F%@* California, you guys have Stanford and Berkeley, etc. to feed you talent! :-)
I understand where you're coming from in regards to kids who graduate leaving. On the other hand, theres a ton of people in their 20's flocking to areas all over the triangle. The glenwood south area of Raleigh, Chapel Hill/Carrboro, and some parts of Durham come to mind.
It seems to me that whenever I visit Raleigh its growing so much that the people who graduate leaving doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I think what the triangle area needs (and has needed for a long time) is critical mass that makes it an established place in peoples mind of a startup hub. Theres lots of great tech companies and startups, but there could be a lot more :-).
I look forward to this meetup and meeting any hackers that are interested in sports.
I'm the founder of StatSheet (http://statsheet.com), a newly VC-backed startup in RTP. It is possible to raise money in the Southeast, but it is definitely more challenging than Silly Valley/Boston/NYC.
There is a growing influx of new startups in RTP, especially in the American Tobacco District (LaunchBox and Joystick Labs just launched there).
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[ 7.6 ms ] story [ 48.7 ms ] threadhttp://www.downtowndurhamstartups.com/
Seriously though, this is good news. RTP is a great place to live, and the cost of living is much much lower than out west. RTP is long overdue for a much needed infusion of startup culture. There are plenty of smart people living there working for Big Corps (just as I did), but the network and money for startups just isn't in place quiet yet. I would love to see it thrive there one day.
For those of you that are employed in the area, what are the job options besides RedHat? I enjoyed the challenges at the YC startup I was at previously and I'm really enjoying working at LinkedIn now. While the move is very far away for me, I'm worried about a possible lack of interesting positions and a smaller talent pool to run my own startup.
Thanks for any advice!
Not sure if those are interesting to you.
I'm not sure the talent pool is measurably smaller if you're looking for people to help with a startup, but I've never even been to SF. There are several fairly decent universities in the area NCSU, Duke, & UNC that feed plenty of smart people into the workforce.
Anyway, just to illustrate a point about the Triangle... Cary (smaller city on the outskirts of Raleigh) is reported to have - IIRC - the highest concentration of Phd holders (per capita) of any city in the United States. Now it's not necessarily the case that Phd == talent, but the point is that people here are smart and well educated in general. Forgot any stereotypes about "Southerners," the Triangle is it's own little nice with different demographics from the more rural areas. (Not that there aren't plenty of smart, well educated people in the rest of NC as well, mind you).
If anything, the problem we have here is how to keep the smart kids who graduate from Duke, UNC, NCSU, etc, in the area. Since this area doesn't - yet - have the reputation for being a startup hub, it seems that people come here, go to school, and then start thinking about moving to San Fran or somewhere "sexy." There are a number of us here who want to change the culture here so that people think more in terms of founding (or joining) startups here. F%@* California, you guys have Stanford and Berkeley, etc. to feed you talent! :-)
It seems to me that whenever I visit Raleigh its growing so much that the people who graduate leaving doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I think what the triangle area needs (and has needed for a long time) is critical mass that makes it an established place in peoples mind of a startup hub. Theres lots of great tech companies and startups, but there could be a lot more :-).
I'm the founder of StatSheet (http://statsheet.com), a newly VC-backed startup in RTP. It is possible to raise money in the Southeast, but it is definitely more challenging than Silly Valley/Boston/NYC.
There is a growing influx of new startups in RTP, especially in the American Tobacco District (LaunchBox and Joystick Labs just launched there).