[baron816]

Building a successful startup is hard. Even a software startup. You don’t just need a few engineers who know what they’re doing. You need designers, product managers, data analysts, marketeers, PR, some sales people maybe, finance folk, people ops, and maybe even a lawyer or two who understands tech. On top of that, you need people who are capable of bringing it all together and operate different orgs as a real tech company should, ie managers.

If you have any hope of succeeding, you need to eventually fill all those positions with experienced hires. Where are all the experienced tech workers? They’re in the already established tech hubs. How do you get those experienced tech workers to move to your aspiring tech hub? I don’t know, but certainly not with lower salaries and skimpy benefits. I don’t think I would leave SF to work at a startup in Toronto, or, let’s say Houston, where I couldn’t be confident that the company would be able to fill all the other roles it needs to to succeed.