Ben's Blog

APRIL 7, 2021

And since VC dollars tend to concentrate around high-tech R&D areas, it’s notable that more than 90% of the nation’s innovation-sector growth (2005-2017) is accounted for by just five metro areas — Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and San Diego. In the case of Silicon Valley, it was a combination of: Universities like Stanford.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

I was at a dinner recently in Chicago and the table discussion was about building great companies outside of Silicon Valley. I think startup communities being simple cheerleaders doesn’t help anyone. Those of us outside Silicon Valley need to make an effort to effect change not just wish for it.

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 19, 2012

I'm not limited to making events geographically and being here won't stop me from doing deals in Manhattan, Boston, Toronto, DC or even SF. Eighty percent of Etsy's employees live in Brooklyn and I'd venture to say that half the startup community in general lives here. 3) There's a big opportunity for "community arbitrage."

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The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

Think of Stanford and Sandhill road in Silicon Valley, Route 128 in Boston or IIT in Bangalore India. It could be an urban area where several startups settle (think Silicon Alley in London) or a grass roots organization like the famous ‘ home-brew computer club ‘ or even a hipster coffee place like Berlin’s Oberholz cafe.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 10, 2020

A quality education for our children in a safe and secure space shouldn't be impossible to achieve. And then you fast forward a couple of weeks, I live here in Santa Clara County in Silicon Valley, which actually I think had one of the first cases or one of the- Eric Ries : Of community spread, yeah.

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Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2018

With ~1,500 startups, the Capital Factory community will be all over SXSW! Despite regularly being named the “Best City to Live” and attracting 150+ new residents every day, Austin’s tech community lags its coastal peers in both investment dollars and successful exits. All of Austin is getting ready for SXSW- and that means us too!

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Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 29, 2009

If you were funded by VCs in Silicon Valley, Boston, or Bombay, it still paid to have your CEO and sales team have eyes and ears in NYC for two main reasons. It used to be that anyone in the entrepreneurial world had to be keenly cognizant of what was going on in New York City. First, that's where the customers were.

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thenextweb.com

AUGUST 6, 2012

ClickFacts itself is now based in San Francisco, and continues to work hard to help advertisers and ad-networks manage their risk and security, exactly as it set out to do seven years ago. I flew out from Seattle, where I lived, to Boston to Paul’s lecture on the back of his essay,” Phil tells me. YC makes the man, not the business.

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 21, 2020

We just held our eighteenth and final session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. What do you think is the opportunity for Silicon Valley and the students in our class here at Stanford, to play a role in national security? Today General James Mattis addressed the class.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

And then, in 2018, John Bolton took over as National Security Advisor, and Bolton had a very traditional view of security. His view was, that wasn't a national security threat. We're all suffering a big price, and it has a big national security impact. That was kind of a do-gooder problem. It's an environment problem.

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