The Tech Diaspora Acceleration so far 1-2021
A monthly-ish recap
tl:dr:
Remote work has hit the mainstream and people are revaluating how and where they spend the time in their lives. This has changed the geography of the tech work forever. Learn more below.
Sister article to : 3 Types of Companies in a Post Pandemic World
2019: You can't recreate Silicon Valley anywhere else.
2020: Well… Silicon Valley is more of a mindset.
2021: I heard Miami is great.
So a follow on effect of the dramatic uptick in acceptance of remote work and people revaluating where and how they spend the time in their lives
@paulg Having lived in both (Austin and Miami currently) and SF for 5 years.
Something special is happening in Miami right now. I decided to move here last year after running out of gas dealing with SF' issues vs it's cost. The pandemic has accelerated that eval for others.
And as a result people in and interested in participating in the technology industry are reshuffling around the world. Cities would do well to take advantage and some are
@paulg Austin is farther along this curve than Miami currently but the spark started by some high profile recent relocations and people being inspired by @FrancisSuarez 's encouragement
is helping it grow into a flame.
Mayor Francis Suarez @FrancisSuarez
First, cities will start priding themselves on recruiting star tech talent & companies just like they do famous athletes & the occasional team.
Second, crypto means everyone in a city can get shares in a company as a crypto dividend, so they have a real rooting interest online.
Antonio García Martínez @antoniogm
I know there's a lot of hype about Miami & Austin as future tech hubs
And I know some people think it's just a couple of people moving
But it's real
Here is week on week @Zumper message trend data by city (from millions of people):
🌴 Miami: +36%
⭐️ Austin: +23%
🌉 SF: +6%
And now is the time.
@lolitataub @teach_vc Remote is here.
We've got 6 to 9 months min until people can realistically be ordered back to the office.
If there was a time bring other areas close to the SF bay area in terms of network and talent strength or bring remote close enough to parity... It's now.
☝️Gold mine 🪙
It seems as if San Francisco, Silicon Valley (the actual place), and the state of California at large are asleep at the wheel.
technology workers did not "extract" value from the bay area, they are what makes the bay area valuable. fight or flight is a choice we all have to make, but we are not the property of any government, and certainly not a local government that hates us.
Because they are still operating on a 20th century mindset where there is gold (or silicon) in them thar hills.
They haven’t yet fully grasped that an immigrant can snap open a laptop in Budapest, Bangalore, or Buenos Aires and get to work just like they used to in the Bay Area.
Bobby Goodlatte @rsg
Its a brand new world as @balajis so eloquently put it “the global competition for tech talent has begun“
The global competition for tech talent has begun. COVID has kicked off the remotening.
Mayor Francis Suarez @FrancisSuarez
Migration > election
N-city system > two-party system
Exit > voice
Remote > commute
Rest of world > SF Bay Area
Decentralized > centralized
1/ Logical implication of the war for knowledge workers:
Well-run cities will start to resemble SaaS companies. They will have ARR, Sales, CSM, Marketing, and R&D.
Here’s what I mean...
David Sacks @DavidSacks
The mayor of Miami is taking advantage
Mayor Suarez has single handedly reformed politics Twitter.
First, politicians around the world now understand they can recruit constituents with their tweets.
Second, they now understand they can *lose* constituents with their tweets.
Ryan Hoover @rrhoover
@ClaireThielke @Twitter @web @BrianBrackeen @alexisohanian If by it you mean the Miami tech enthusiasm wave 🌊
Definitely this one.
Mayor Francis Suarez @FrancisSuarez
Something big is happening with this SF exodus — I don’t think most are fully grasping the impact this will have.
The center of gravity for tech is a jump-ball at the moment.
And smart mayors like Miami’s @FrancisSuarez are jumping for it.
As an OG remote advocate since 2013 running http://upscalews.com/ and now https://will.vc
I shed tears at times about how far things have come… back in the day to quote the great Dj Khaled
Was how I would describe how the industry’s feelings towards remote work in general.
Years ago after a stint doing a 90 minute each way commute to Linkedin’s Sunnyvale office (which shows you how good that gig was for me o.o)
I vowed never again…
Nowadays though, we’ve got some of the heaviest hitters in the industry not only understanding, but into remote work.
1/I’ve embraced remote work completely like all tech folks have been forced too, & I’m afraid & inspired that the gains are so significant for employees that many/most will not go back to offices
This is going to lead to a crazy, competitive chess board for funds & startups.
3/Nope. The top developers, writers, sales executives, product people, marketers, investing, finance executives, etc. will be able to say the following to big companies:
"I am only looking for job opportunities that allow me to work from home."
That's it. Done. Employees win.
And also the diaspora from the SF bay area
If you want to have the biggest possible impact in tech, I think you should still move to the Bay Area.
The people here, and the network effects caused by that, are worth it.
It's hard to overstate the magic of lots of competent, optimistic people in one place.
@sama this is what all of the incumbents our startups say when they are confronted by the companies we fund.
Not gonna lie I get emotional about all this at times fr fr… I’ve been hoping for this moment FOR YEARS!
But I don’t think SF or Silicon Valley are dead nor do I wish death on them.
Only healthy competition
@sama Concur even as a person actively promoting other places as Ive written before
will.vc @boujeehacker
@paulg Love Austin and Miami, (and famously not SF's biggest fan..) will be personally doing everything I can to help the other scenes grow to compete with the Bay Area. I think it's stranglehold on tech's top talent has caused an overfitting on the types of problems the talent tackles.
What many don’t appreciate about tech and VC migration from the Bay Area is that this is not a zero sum game.
Migration of talent, ideas and capital will ultimately unlock much opportunity today than concentrating it.
That’s a great thing. There are only winners here.
And boy are they getting competition.
@ClaireThielke @Twitter @web @BrianBrackeen @alexisohanian CNN also did a piece
(Title only mentions Texas but the body talks about the story around Miami also)
There may never be a better time for tech to use voice, because the threat of exit may never be this credible again. Convincing people to stay only discredits it. Now is the time to go to SV pols and say: "Hey, we gotta stop the bleeding, what can we do?"
The collective hallucination that this is about “taxes” rather than finding somewhere talented junior engineers can afford their own apartment and senior engineering managers can afford a nice house—because sensible housing policies—will be what kills SF.
Prediction: We will see a top 10 VC firm announce the relocation of thier HQ to a purple-ish state (Florida, Texas , etc ) in 2021
Theory: easier to live in a low regulation red state and be part of turning it purple-ish than try make California moderate again #MaCMA
For a taste of the content to expect, I just published the first edition
It focused on Mayor @FrancisSuarez's "Tweet Heard Round The Valley", and the steady drumbeat of pro-Miami sentiment it has stirred up amongst Silicon Valley insiders
digitaldiaspora.substack.com/p/the-digital-…
(2/n)
Introducing @theinformation’s Techodus list of execs who have left the Bay Area. The trend is real. Implications will be important to follow. We will keep this updated for subscribers.
but our movement is not without its doubters
If you want to have the biggest possible impact in tech, I think you should still move to the Bay Area.
The people here, and the network effects caused by that, are worth it.
It's hard to overstate the magic of lots of competent, optimistic people in one place.
This Miami meme is becoming moronic. Miami has literally no tech of any sorts. Do you guys really misunderstand network effects that badly? Rich VCs moving there to avoid taxes does not do it...
They key here is that there is zero to negative benefits for entrepreneurs and executives to make decisions about location now.
Wait till October 2021.
Zero first mover advantage.
Bill Gurley @bgurley
to which I counter
@AleResnik This statement assumes two things
1) strictly co located office work will be proven to be unequivocally always more successful than remote or hybrid
2) if s1 holds that people would always choose the success of their company or their job prospects over quality and cost of living
@AleResnik Jury is still on on s1 and most of the white collar world is ready to see especially over terrible commutes of yesterday.
@AleResnik On s2 we already know that that is not true from the large pool of talented people that do not choose to move to SF / SV already.
After 18 months of being effective doing remote work through a global pandemic; you think that pool is going to shrink when things go back to normal?
So lets see! May the best scenes win!
San Francisco has been totally rebooted for startups:
- Office space is really cheap
- Big company chumps have all left
- Large tech campuses are closed down for the foreseeable future
- Rent is plummeting each month
- Young kids are filling the vacuum
Bullish long term 🚀
@ricburton @zebulgar Agree (and I left before the pandemic. I have receipts.)
Competion will make us all better.
May the best teams and scenes win!
So all this discussion leads to a natural follow up question …
What other areas in the US are the most poised to heavily take advantage you ask?
Many are (politics aside)
Take your pick: Miami, Austin, Houston, Reno, Utah, Boulder, Vegas; anywhere pro-capitalism, low cost of living, & socially liberal will win startups/high-tax earners
cities that are liberal, expensive BUT with socialist/anti-business leaders lose (@AOC @LondonBreed etc)
vishal.blog @vgurbuxani
The biggest winners of the digital age: The Individual
The biggest losers of the digital age: The Government
In an age where people can work wherever they want - the individual has all the power.
Governments will start competing with each other.
The government monopoly is dying.
People won't just vote for the other party - they can now vote with their feet.
No news channel is reporting on this.
It's the biggest revolution in history.
but the ones I personally know the best are
Miami
It’s been quite a month...
David Jacobs @DavidJacobsLive
ICYMI, Part 4 (who says it is a holiday week): an insider’s look back and ahead on why 2021 could be #MiamiTech’s breakout year - by @bunsen refreshmiami.com/the-rocket-is-… via @refreshmiami
Miami as the next global tech hub -- from @nbc6
I agree!
@FrancisSuarez @LauraNBC6 @refreshmiami @ABenton @MariaDerchi @MichelleAbbs
@edward_gorbis @ProfileRead @FrancisSuarez @polina_marinova Hey Edward! Fellow ex WeWorker here. Wrote something about Mayor Suarez's approach, would love to have you check it out:
@aaaaathena If you want to learn about Miami follow @bunsen and check out his detailed threads about it i.e
Auston Bunsen ⚡️ QuikNode.io @bunsen
Atlanta
1/ Last night I tweeted that Atlanta is on absolute fire. 2,300+ liked the tweet. There’s a special energy building here. So what is going on in this “overnight success hub”? Hint - it’s been 15 years in the making. Time for a 🔥 thread 👇👇👇
Romeen Sheth @RomeenSheth
@MoniqMills @Jason @AOC @LondonBreed I think the big thing that need to happen is a coordinated marketing campaign towards it. #atltech or something like that. @Mailchimp @Calendly are just a few incredibly successful companies built in the A. There are also great accelerators in @TechSquare. Is there a big list? 1/
@MoniqMills @boujeehacker @Jason @AOC @LondonBreed @Mailchimp @Calendly @TechSquare @atdc #gojackets over here as well. As you all already know, the talent is here. The ideas are here. The startups are here. The money has been a little slower to come, especially from the West coast.
Does it have to come from there though?
Atlanta and the Southeast have all the right ingredients. I enjoyed chatting with @AlexisTVNews on @YahooFinance https://t.co/38JBM35xCA
Yahoo Finance @YahooFinance
Austin
In Austin you would be hard pressed to find a better place to start learning about Austin and the Texas startup scene than with Joshua Baer and Capital Factory
Just moved to Austin? Thinking about it?
Learn your Austin ABC's and become a local super-connector baer.ly/austinabc
#Austin #Texas @AustinStartups @AustinInvestor @TexasManifesto
Re: austin
will.vc @boujeehacker
Lets do this!
Comments questions suggestions? Comment below!