So, the big sale here is the 30 minutes to... the shore of Santa Cruz? From there to Palo Alto is another hour (or more)? Unless they mean the Ano Nuevo Bay, which you'd have to drive even longer to get into the valley.
The real cultural wins they talk about in this slide deck don't come from the formal interactions planned ahead, but the random ones. The other day I was having an americano while doing some research in a cafe I'd never been to, and I accidentally got into a conversation with someone I'd never met before about writing compilers, changing python syntax for domain specific VM performance, and our favorite keyboards. The conversation has sparked at least a week of creativity and thought.
Anyone who's worked in technology outside of Silicon Valley (RTP, what up!) knows just how amazingly drastic the difference is. You're not going to be able to co-opt it on a boat 1.5-2 hours away.
But maybe they will. I'm going to bet against this, but I hope I lose my money. Success being a function of birthplace and parental wealth/race is a tragedy.
Which means the project (or at least that benefit) could be obtained anywhere simply by attracting a lot of startups. Cabo San Lucas, Berlin, doesn't really matter to me- just make the cost of living cheap, the visas easy to get and the regulatory burden relatively low and I'll sign up.
It's not going to duplicate SV, but it does make the world a lot smaller. You could organize regular visits from local digeratii and VC's, surely better than being on the other side of the world in a different timezone where your most useful interaction is with the local grocer.
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So, the big sale here is the 30 minutes to... the shore of Santa Cruz? From there to Palo Alto is another hour (or more)? Unless they mean the Ano Nuevo Bay, which you'd have to drive even longer to get into the valley.
The real cultural wins they talk about in this slide deck don't come from the formal interactions planned ahead, but the random ones. The other day I was having an americano while doing some research in a cafe I'd never been to, and I accidentally got into a conversation with someone I'd never met before about writing compilers, changing python syntax for domain specific VM performance, and our favorite keyboards. The conversation has sparked at least a week of creativity and thought.
Anyone who's worked in technology outside of Silicon Valley (RTP, what up!) knows just how amazingly drastic the difference is. You're not going to be able to co-opt it on a boat 1.5-2 hours away.
But maybe they will. I'm going to bet against this, but I hope I lose my money. Success being a function of birthplace and parental wealth/race is a tragedy.
If the boat had the right kind of people on it, you could see a lot of those benefits without leaving the promenade deck.
Which means the project (or at least that benefit) could be obtained anywhere simply by attracting a lot of startups. Cabo San Lucas, Berlin, doesn't really matter to me- just make the cost of living cheap, the visas easy to get and the regulatory burden relatively low and I'll sign up.
It's not going to duplicate SV, but it does make the world a lot smaller. You could organize regular visits from local digeratii and VC's, surely better than being on the other side of the world in a different timezone where your most useful interaction is with the local grocer.
Isn't that why we have skype?
Half Moon Bay to Palo Alto is about 30 minutes (without traffic). The whole trip would be a little longer than from SF.