You need to get to a startup hub, if you're serious. It makes a huge difference in mindset, and odds of success.
I've started companies in Houston, Austin, and now in the Valley. Austin was vastly better than Houston, but Silicon Valley is worlds apart from anything I've ever seen.
The only benefit to not being in a startup hub is that you don't have as short of a runway during that very early self-funded stage. You can live on peanuts in most parts of the country...but in the valley you will go broke fast if you don't have income or funding. So, it seems like "not dying" would be easier in places where the cost of living is very low, but I think it's probably a zombie-like existence. You also don't have to move as fast...and if you aren't moving fast at 3 months into your company, you're as good as dead.
I'm an undergraduate in college, studying industrial engineering. I ask myself regularly what the point is, because I have absolutely no desire to work as an industrial engineer. You may remember industrial engineers as the efficiency experts from films such as Office Space and American Beauty.
So I know the thing to do is to drop out and move to the Valley. But the only socially acceptable way I had to do that was acceptance into Y Combinator, or angel funding from someone else.
So for now, my company is in Pittsburgh. It's going to be really easy to "not die" because there is absolutely no way for my company to fail because we have no expenses. Unless we get sued and can't afford to defend ourselves. While we're not dying, we should start making money. So if we have enough revenue to support a Bay Area or NYC lifestyle, we would happily move the company there, regardless of college education.
I should also add that, given the conversations I've had with investors since being out here and the things I know now: I believe quite strongly that my previous company would have been a success had I started it (or brought it) here. Several companies with very similar implementation and business models started around the same time (and whom I actually had numerous personal interactions with--their products being deployed along-side my companies on a similar scale) here in the valley have gone on to quite nice success.
but where did you find all the hot startup action in austin?
are there any groups or communities that you frequented? any websites that you conncected with other hackers on? is austinventures really the only game in town?
It seems like austin has the free spirit startup culture, but I dont feel near the amount of startup community there as I do when I read about the valley on here and other startup oriented blogs/sites. maybe im just out of the loop tho. got any tips for an aspiring austin starterupper?
I was lucky enough to end up sharing an office with another startup, further along than mine (they had 5 million in revenues and 20 or so employees), because I did some consulting work for them and they had some spare space for a while as they grew (Austin real estate was depressed in 03 when they were negotiating and so they got a good deal on a 3/4 of a floor in the Bank of America building at the corner of 6th and Congress).
Perl mongers was also pretty interesting, though not startup-y enough. PUG (Python Users Group) also met a few times, and they were a bit more dynamic.
There's also some money in Austin. Austin Ventures is well-known and well-regarded, and they do a lot of deals. A few angels exist there, and if you're doing anything related to oil and gas or telecommunications you can find investors, if you beat the bushes. Other areas are not as well served.
But, the valley is in a class by itself. I wouldn't recommend starting up in Austin to anyone, now that I know how big the difference is between the #1 startup hub and the #5 startup hub...as pg pointed out in his article about startup hubs, the drop-off is steep. Boston is barely half as good as Silicon Valley, and everything else is likewise half as good as the next step up (I believe the list goes SV, Boston, New York, Seattle, Austin, but I might be misremembering). Might as well be in Dubuque as anywhere other than the Valley.
I've started companies in Houston, Austin, and now in the Valley. Austin was vastly better than Houston, but Silicon Valley is worlds apart from anything I've ever seen.
The only benefit to not being in a startup hub is that you don't have as short of a runway during that very early self-funded stage. You can live on peanuts in most parts of the country...but in the valley you will go broke fast if you don't have income or funding. So, it seems like "not dying" would be easier in places where the cost of living is very low, but I think it's probably a zombie-like existence. You also don't have to move as fast...and if you aren't moving fast at 3 months into your company, you're as good as dead.