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by mturmon
4392 days ago
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I work at JPL. We do see crossovers to start ups, but as mentioned, not many, and typically in selected domains like machine learning, robotics, and computer vision or image processing, all of which are represented at JPL. An early googler (@lisper on HN) used to work next to me at JPL, and so did a very early Amazonian. I also know early hires for SpaceX and D-Wave. I would echo the comments nearby that the LA tech scene is not all Hollywood. Sometimes Hollywood has a hard time seeing outside itself. To me, the universities have a significant presence in the tech scene here (Caltech, USC, ISI, UCLA, UCI). |
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I didn't mean to imply that the LA tech scene is "all Hollywood," but rather, that Hollywood and the LA tech scene overlap in many ways, and that Hollywood has a way of being near-unavoidable in the upper echelons of the LA business community. That's not to say it's totally unavoidable -- and for that matter, not to say it needs to be avoided -- but it's obviously very influential in the city. A lot of that influence stems from the fact that Hollywood is a major financial hub for new investment, be it in tech or in other domains. As I mentioned, that influence will wane in direct proportion to the degree that the startup scene in LA grows and develops its own financial ecosystem. (That's starting to happen, although, as the article mentions, it's by no means complete just yet.)
I didn't mean for my comment to be too focused on Hollywood, but in going back and rereading it, I can see how I gave that impression. In retrospect, I should have phrased it differently.