Shameless plug: Tennessee is a great place for startups. Ambition (YC w14) is based in Chattanooga, TN - a beautiful city, nestled in the mountains, with great quality of life, low cost of living, plus an awesome, smaller but energetic downtown + hip surrounding neighborhoods (think Boulder, CO or a very mini-Austin, TX).
We are also ~ 90 minutes from downtown Nashville and downtown Atlanta.
If anyone is ever passing through or interested in a change of scenery from the Southeast (or the Bay Area, DC, NYC... cough, anywhere), let us know. We're hiring.
I just got a 250k BitAngels grant for a project I'm working on. I'm in Austin, but I've also been considering a move to a less expensive place as long as it had good broadband and an active developer community. Chattanooga is definitely on the short list.
Just noticed your comment, albeit a few days late. If you have questions about getting started or making connections in Chatt - shoot me an email and we'll try to set some intro's up. Per your ideals, this could be a pretty good place to work on your project. Cost of living will definitely be less than Austin. (although our brisket is not quite as good).
Hear hear, Nashville is a great place to live and work if you are in the tech community. We have a great tech scene, and some big players, like Google, are really starting to take notice. We are one of their inaugural Tech Hub cities, and they have been working with entrepreneurs here for a few years. We have several great initiatives like the Jumpstart Foundry and the Entrepreneur Center that other cities are now emulating. Also, my own company, Populr, was in 500 Startups Batch 7. We have good food, nice people, and cheap living. Come join us :)
Shameless plug: Tennessee is a great place for startups. Ambition (YC w14) is based in Chattanooga, TN - a beautiful city, nestled in the mountains, with great quality of life, low cost of living, plus an awesome, smaller but energetic downtown + hip surrounding neighborhoods (think Boulder, CO or a very mini-Austin, TX).
We are also ~ 90 minutes from downtown Nashville and downtown Atlanta.
If anyone is ever passing through or interested in a change of scenery from the Southeast (or the Bay Area, DC, NYC... cough, anywhere), let us know. We're hiring.