[jreilly]

Brushfire, good to hear that I am not the only one. I graduated from Duke this May and moved to Indy because I knew a bunch of people here and it is so cheap. I had no idea what I wanted to do but figure I would try it out for a year. Pretty miserable.

Funny that you should mention ChaCha because when I got here the most intriguing opportunities I could find were with Scott Jones' companies (founder of ChaCha). I recently started working for SAJE and GalaxiaLighting.com, two of his newer companies, but am holding my judgment until I am there a little longer. I have a feeling I may be on my way out of here when my lease runs up next summer unless something changes. Scott is a serial entrepreneur who is trying to bring the spirit to Indiana through his companies and foundations but progress seems to be slow.

[breck]

I graduated from Duke in '07 and lived in Cambridge for a year. Moved to SanFran in September. I'm learning at an order of magnitude faster rate, earning an order of magnitude more, building an order of magnitude more professional relationships...should I go on?

I also love the quality of life out here and live frugally, much cheaper than in Boston.

I would not walk, RUN, here from Indy. If you do, there's also a very solid group of Duke Tech entrepreneurs out here that meet regularly.

[Brushfire]

Breck

This is a good point. I'm leaving Indy at some point -- but it is very hard to move from Indy (low cost of living) to SFC or any coast (high cost of living). Especially considering the (current) lack of jobs coming on the market these days.

Given the market, I think the good plan is to either Move there if you know someone to crash with and try to find a job, but if you dont, try to do your own thing and build some resume credibility (read create some web apps or commit some code to something notable) and try again in 6 months.

[breck]

My resume was sparse because I've been doing pretty much all freelance work since graduation. Didn't hurt at all. There are hundreds of jobs out here for good developers.

My cost of living per month is about $2k. It's what you make it. I would try to save up $2k-4k and make the move. If you can't make it happen in 1 or 2 months, make sure you have enough to get a plane ride home.

[pgebhard]

Pratt '07 here...where's your contact info?

[Brushfire]

Interesting. Please dont take this the wrong way, but my opinion of Scott is that he is terribly smart, but cant find anything to focus on for more than a year. So he continually starts companies, raises money based on his name, and then forgets them after a bit, and moves on. Perhaps this isnt fair/true, its just the impression that his history gives off.

Either way, good luck.

[jreilly]

At this point I think he has something like 8 companies that he is founder of that he is hasn't sold. I can't argue with the terribly smart part but as I have had very minimal interaction with him I am reserving my opinion for a little farther down the line. Even if what you say is true it has been clear to me that he is willing to give a lot of responsibility to those who show promise so I am going to see what his companies may have to offer in Indiana. It is true that there are not enough hours in the day for him to focus completely on all the companies which is why I have not had much interaction with him yet. Do let me know though if you see any interesting startups in the area or want to bounce some ideas around.

[mlLK]

http://interactions.net ; you might find interesting. Their most accessible client for the public is Hot Box Pizza. If you've ever ordered a pizza from them you are using their product.