Ok, so it is cheaper to do business in the south...but businesses that start in the south will get a 250k round of funding while the same one would get 2 million in the valley...which one is going more likely to give a company to get the traction it needs?
Because there's definitely no examples of bootstrapped companies which have gained more traction than funded companies, and (gasp) maybe even been more successful...
Come on. Let's end this celebration of funding once and for all, and start celebrating the hard working entrepreneurs who bootstrap.
Really? Scholr.ly is lumped with those? Scholr.ly is probably the result of scholar.ly and scholarly.com both being taken, and likely a domain name acquisition issue. Other than that, it's quite clear in its connotations, and hardly inscrutable. It's only mildly unspellable (an omission that's easy to remember, if problematic). Unlike Sqord, or really the others you listed. Not sure it belongs in that list…
Our 20-person team is split between Nashville, TN and Vancouver Island, BC. Staying out of the major startup hubs has definitely helped us to avoid the assumption that funding is a critical component or yardstick of success. For us, I think this was a lucky break; we still haven't encountered a day in which lack of funding is a significant impediment to our growth.
The south is a wonderful place for start-ups. In my smaller-ish city of Lexington, KY we have a close-knit, vibrant community of aspiring entrepreneurs. The cost of living is low and the University of Kentucky brings great talent to the area (and they actually want to stay).
Also, most of the area businesses are bootstrapped.
I noticed a third of the photos are from Durham, NC.
I grew up there, and used to work for a startup there. In many ways I didn't like Durham so much -- way too suburban and sprawling for me, most of my friends lived in cookie-cutter apartments, the sense of local character was kind of faint. But it definitely does have a lot of things going for it, in particular a critical mass of talented, energetic people.
It's the kind of place where if you want to try out X, you will find a surprisingly large and dedicated group of people doing X -- for just about any value of X.
And, to add to that, I've noticed that the center city has been rejuvenated a lot since 2004 when I left.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 35.5 ms ] threadCome on. Let's end this celebration of funding once and for all, and start celebrating the hard working entrepreneurs who bootstrap.
Also, most of the area businesses are bootstrapped.
I grew up there, and used to work for a startup there. In many ways I didn't like Durham so much -- way too suburban and sprawling for me, most of my friends lived in cookie-cutter apartments, the sense of local character was kind of faint. But it definitely does have a lot of things going for it, in particular a critical mass of talented, energetic people.
It's the kind of place where if you want to try out X, you will find a surprisingly large and dedicated group of people doing X -- for just about any value of X.
And, to add to that, I've noticed that the center city has been rejuvenated a lot since 2004 when I left.