[rmason]

Looking at the same thing in East Lansing. My personal opinion is that Boulder is a much better model for a second tier city than Silicon Valley. They've come from nowhere in the past fifteen years to become a leading hub.

We've got strong networks of enthusiastic people (http://www.hackersandhustlers.org) started but no clear roadmap how to go to the next level.

Michigan in general imho has two problems to overcome:

1. Lack of angel investors

2. Experienced people willing to take the risk of working for a startup. The economy has been so brutal here for the past eleven years that it can take a long time to land a new position if the startup fails.