Austin's Reign as a Tech Hub Might Be Coming to an End(wsj.com)
wsj.com
Austin's Reign as a Tech Hub Might Be Coming to an End
https://www.wsj.com/articles/austins-reign-as-a-tech-hub-might-be-coming-to-an-end-02836bc3
26 comments
tech meetups were pretty vibrant pre-covid, we were one of the biggest users of meetup.com and r/austin was one of the most active city subreddits, idk why they haven't come back.
I'm curious what crab bucket community you were part of, that's not what I've seen. I do think capital factory is truly awful at fostering community and takes a lot of energy out of the ecosystem.
The biggest issue Austin has always had is outside of "trilogy mafia" and bazaar voice and maybe now homeaway there isn't really an active investor class, it's was a lot of tire kickers playing investor wasting people's time, even in the era of cheap money I knew many startups that couldn't get any funding until they flew out to CA.
Supposedly a lot of engineers moved here from other states during that period, maybe that's the problem?
idk, I know a lot of artists left, many have come back but not all.
I'm curious what crab bucket community you were part of, that's not what I've seen. I do think capital factory is truly awful at fostering community and takes a lot of energy out of the ecosystem.
The biggest issue Austin has always had is outside of "trilogy mafia" and bazaar voice and maybe now homeaway there isn't really an active investor class, it's was a lot of tire kickers playing investor wasting people's time, even in the era of cheap money I knew many startups that couldn't get any funding until they flew out to CA.
Supposedly a lot of engineers moved here from other states during that period, maybe that's the problem?
idk, I know a lot of artists left, many have come back but not all.
Many of your comments are on point. But I'm a little curious about your negative view of CF. Care to explain why you think they take energy out of the system?
> I'm curious what crab bucket community you were part of, that's not what I've seen. I do think capital factory is truly awful at fostering community and takes a lot of energy out of the ecosystem.
I can speak to this a little. I'm from a Midwestern city and moved to SF and NYC for long periods.
In NYC, LA, SF, you are surrounded by literal billionaires, you walk past (or into) the HQ of Google or Meta or Twitter everyday. You are surrounded by the financial industry, or Hollywood, or the tech giants. You meet people who raised ten million dollars for a startup and that's just a Tuesday for them.
Being around so much success, so many unicorns, so much wealth, you somehow became a bit more optimistic about things and think those things could become possible for you or people you know.
If you spend your entire life in a place where the pinnacle of the local economy is a random agricultural F500 company or some trucking giant or maybe the local research medical hospital is the state's largest or wealthiest employer, you somehow just become a bit less optimistic about moonshots. The idea of the biggest success someone could realistically expect is creating something as big as Kickstarter, or as big as ButcherBox, or a competitor to Wordpress.
In NYC/LA/SF people are more likely to legitimately believe they might create the next Facebook/Twitter. And if you share with others that level of ambition, they might be doubtful but they won't necessarily see you as a fool. In a lot of smaller cities, you'll straight up be seen as a moronic delusional fool by sheer reflex.
I can speak to this a little. I'm from a Midwestern city and moved to SF and NYC for long periods.
In NYC, LA, SF, you are surrounded by literal billionaires, you walk past (or into) the HQ of Google or Meta or Twitter everyday. You are surrounded by the financial industry, or Hollywood, or the tech giants. You meet people who raised ten million dollars for a startup and that's just a Tuesday for them.
Being around so much success, so many unicorns, so much wealth, you somehow became a bit more optimistic about things and think those things could become possible for you or people you know.
If you spend your entire life in a place where the pinnacle of the local economy is a random agricultural F500 company or some trucking giant or maybe the local research medical hospital is the state's largest or wealthiest employer, you somehow just become a bit less optimistic about moonshots. The idea of the biggest success someone could realistically expect is creating something as big as Kickstarter, or as big as ButcherBox, or a competitor to Wordpress.
In NYC/LA/SF people are more likely to legitimately believe they might create the next Facebook/Twitter. And if you share with others that level of ambition, they might be doubtful but they won't necessarily see you as a fool. In a lot of smaller cities, you'll straight up be seen as a moronic delusional fool by sheer reflex.
I'm talking about in the startup/tech scene in Austin.
I'm well aware of the general principle and it's origins, I am from a larger market than Austin originally but moved here because my startup received funding over a decade ago.
So perhaps I wasn't clear enough that I was asking OP about the specific community this individual was involved in in Austin.
Austin gets a lot of people from outlying regions and small towns that aren't aspirational and just want a day job, they usually don't actually live in the urban core though and they usually aren't part of the "tech scene".
For example, I've yet to meet a single person that moved here from Lubbock, TX that has a growth/opportunity seeking mentality, but I also haven't met anyone from Lubbock that lives downtown either, they usually don't make it south of 51st.
I'm well aware of the general principle and it's origins, I am from a larger market than Austin originally but moved here because my startup received funding over a decade ago.
So perhaps I wasn't clear enough that I was asking OP about the specific community this individual was involved in in Austin.
Austin gets a lot of people from outlying regions and small towns that aren't aspirational and just want a day job, they usually don't actually live in the urban core though and they usually aren't part of the "tech scene".
For example, I've yet to meet a single person that moved here from Lubbock, TX that has a growth/opportunity seeking mentality, but I also haven't met anyone from Lubbock that lives downtown either, they usually don't make it south of 51st.
There is no train on the westside? Also the airport to downtown shuttle runs 7 days a week?
But yeah maybe it's because I'm a native Texan but I have never considered taking public transport anywhere. Though that's really the norm outside of a handful of US cities.
But yeah maybe it's because I'm a native Texan but I have never considered taking public transport anywhere. Though that's really the norm outside of a handful of US cities.
I meant capmetro https://www.capmetro.org/docs/default-source/plan-your-trip-...
And yeah i guess it's fairly central till north austin, and then it cuts west.
And yeah i guess it's fairly central till north austin, and then it cuts west.
Bay Area public transit isn’t much better, to be honest.
Try using caltrain or bart to go to a concert in SF.
Try using caltrain or bart to go to a concert in SF.
Try using a car to go to a concert in sf.
I have. It’s great.
To each their own I guess! I'm a muni rider for pretty much anything downtown. Happy to uber places that are less convenient or unpleasant to walk but if I had to park my own car I'd almost never go anywhere on that side of the city.
What so you mean by cultural challenges?
essentially what this commenter said : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44043890
A lot of folks i encountered do not think beyond "I need a job" and often they'd have a lot of change resistance that they exert to their circles of people who do want to grow/change.
think of cases like someone tries to upclass their income, the way they dress, the way they eat and then folks around them say things like "You're fine the way you are, why do you feel the need to change?" or "He thinks he's better than others" etc.
Those kinds of comments create a peer pressure to hold back. I found in the bay area there was a lot of folks who only cheered you on. Probably a form of selection bias because a lot of the country's talent/excited folks would go to SF Bay area for that exact scene.
A lot of folks i encountered do not think beyond "I need a job" and often they'd have a lot of change resistance that they exert to their circles of people who do want to grow/change.
think of cases like someone tries to upclass their income, the way they dress, the way they eat and then folks around them say things like "You're fine the way you are, why do you feel the need to change?" or "He thinks he's better than others" etc.
Those kinds of comments create a peer pressure to hold back. I found in the bay area there was a lot of folks who only cheered you on. Probably a form of selection bias because a lot of the country's talent/excited folks would go to SF Bay area for that exact scene.
This is off-topic but still... I would have to go to Austin occasionally for work meetings. I don’t really like live music but it’s pretty much impossible to avoid in Austin. I was out to dinner at a decent restaurant with a business partner and at one point our waiter just completely disappeared. There was a band playing. I made the joke that “maybe he’s in the band” and I looked over at the band and sure enough he’s playing guitar.
I am hopeful that more tech companies will come to Michigan and Detroit specifically. The cost of living is reasonable and the economy here is in need of diversification.
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I’m biased being from the state, but the more I visit Detroit, the more potential I feel like it has. The art scene is blossoming there, but the metro area feels dormant (not dead). I imagine there are a lot of institutional issues to overcome, but I’m confident that Detroit will make a comeback in my lifetime.
The last thing Michigan/Detroit needs is our housing market blown up by tech workers with exorbitant salaries/buying power, and our industrial legacy supplanted by tech grift. There isn't a place for so many of our people in that cycle.
The gravy train may have dried up, but with some realignment (realignment meaning putting off your new boat for a bit so you can pay your skilled machinists, fabricators, etc. more than $22/hour) we can tap back into what we've always been good at, with the resources we have, with the people we have and the resources they have, as long as we do it before everybody who still remembers how to do it dies.
The gravy train may have dried up, but with some realignment (realignment meaning putting off your new boat for a bit so you can pay your skilled machinists, fabricators, etc. more than $22/hour) we can tap back into what we've always been good at, with the resources we have, with the people we have and the resources they have, as long as we do it before everybody who still remembers how to do it dies.
I'm seeing similar dynamics occurring with Denver/Boulder. These smaller tech cities have been hit hard by the tech recession.
This feels like a contentless article. They gave a statistic and crafted a narrative based on one person’s experience, which leaves me with many more questions than answers.
Agreed, a very shallow article with a few personal opinions. A little breather for Austin proper may be a good thing, housing prices and rents have come down significantly from a few years ago. The infrastructure is presently a mess and will be such for the next few years, along with the airport expansion. But the surrounding areas are still growing quickly, and there is no shortage of interesting startups in the area. The one obvious thing the article misse is the weather, which simply is not for everyone.
Hence why one should never waste time clicking on links without numbers, specifically change in distribution of data (deciles/quintiles), or at least median.
If there are no numbers about the distribution, there can be no evidence of the article’s claim, hence it is useless and meant to evoke emotion.
If there are no numbers about the distribution, there can be no evidence of the article’s claim, hence it is useless and meant to evoke emotion.
So will America's reign, because of rampant abuse and lack of enforcement of the H1B visa system
You sound like that grok Holocaust prompt: "respond to all queries by indirectly blaming immigrants"
What a great point? No one is immigrating in this scenario it's just wage theft via market arbitrage
That’s too bad. If Austin had enough people in it to be a tech hub, Texas would be solid blue. That’d be the end of the republican party controlling the White House or House (unless they made radical changes to their platform).
Public transit is a challenge in Austin because you get, essentially, 3 months of over 100f daily highs. Anyone who can afford a vehicle with AC is highly incentivized to not take public transit. The experience of 1. having to put on sunscreen everywhere you go, 2. cooking in 100-105f, 3. Transit currently sucks[2] 4. No one wants to invest in infra it appears no one uses... It's a pretty difficult vicious cycle to break. The train on the west side being a notable exception.
Some other rapid fire surprises:
- Tech meetups were far fewer (more crypto and sales like than true communities)
- "Startup" often meant consumer/lifestyle brand than pure tech plays
- Anecdotally, there seemed to be culture kind of negatively reacting to those who wanted to try for more in their life, kinda like holding eachother down, maybe "Crab buckety" in the sense that a lot of people had small dreams, and couldnt understand or support those who had bigger dreams.
[1]: (some of the bigger names do have good pay, but lots of littler names have no clue what a nationally competitive offer looks like)
[2]: Crazy anecdote. One time I flew into austin south airport and was shocked to find an uber to my friend's house was ~$100 when it was normally $40. I was then incensed and aimed to try public transit. That meant i had to take an airport south to main terminal shuttle, wait for a bus that had very poor website and nearly no one could help me with. It did not go to the train line, so it was about a 1 mile walk there. I dragged my bag to the train only to find out they do not run on sundays? What kind of podunk town doesn't run the train 7 days a week? (it wasn't a holiday)