Now that SV is dying, where will the next generation of hackers hack?
Now that SV is dying, where will the next generation of hackers hack?
Everywhere?
Now that remote starts to be widely accepted, there isn't a lot of reasons to stay in one place.
I see a lot more startups starting as fully remote with no offices at all.
And I'm not seeing a lot of smart people tolerating companies who still refuse remote work.
Personally I struggle to take seriously any tech company where remote work isn't widely accepted, it's a backwards mindset, and they'll struggle to attract/retain top talent, so I don't think a lot of them have a future now.
There might be some places that attract a lot of people for their quality of life, culture or environment, but I think smart people who have enough power to do so will live anywhere they want, no matter who they work for, whether it's to be closer to their family and friends, or just to live in a place that they love.(or in a cheap place to save money and retire early)
SV very much benefitted from 1950s and 60s military research funding (most prominently represented in Bell Labs and CC). VC funding is a secondary step, first, you need strong research centers.
The next SV will be wherever there is a critical mass of well-educated youngsters and a political will to create a technology cluster using the present human capital (and pulling in local talent with attractive places to live). My bet is somewhere in central India or near Guangzhou.
SV is only dying due to remote work, which is due to COVID. If COVID stops being a problem, in-office will return, and SV will come back to life. A lot of people know this, and a lot of people are anticipating COVID to be over soon. So there's reluctance to put down serious roots elsewhere (besides the big companies like Goog and Meta that already were expanding to second-and-third-tier cities pre-pandemic). If COVID continues to necessitste remote work for, say, another 2 years, you'll see micro-SVs spring up, probably around top-tier engineering schools.
Won't they be fluid to meet anywhere (vr) or have like a meeting spot that changes (e.g. Miami today, Dubai tomorrow) annually. I'm curious about what other people think