[anrope]

It is a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg type problem.

Best case, 10 startups pop up all at once as a result of these grants, and more follow. I think this is actually a reasonably good try at jump-starting a startup culture.

The nice thing about a web startup is that, aside from "culture" and government regulations, there aren't really any reasons you couldn't run your startup out of a cabin in remote Alaska with a satellite internet connection.

Of course, it does go deeper than just an initial seed. There also needs to be a government with policies that won't restrict the growth of startups.

For all the complaining in Maine about college graduates leaving the state, I would love to see them try something like this.