The Utah Inferiority Complex
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been involved in meetings, forums, discussions, and even my own internal thoughts and doubts as an entrepreneur here in Utah surrounding the questions, “Is Utah as good as Silicon Valley?” “Do we have as much talent as Silicon Valley?” “Is there as much access to capital as Silicon Valley?” If I had a dollar for every time this has come up in the last 10 yrs I’ve been an entrepreneur, I’d have my F-U money by now.
It’s gotten so tiresome. I live in Utah because I want to. Because I live in Utah, I do startups in Utah.
Fred Wilson NAILS the correct thought on it so on top of the nail he splits it right down the middle with his blog post: Startup Hotbed Inferiority Complex.
To his list, specific to us, I’d add Word Perfect, Novell, Omniture, and the hundreds and hundreds of other successes we’ve seen here.
I’ve always described it as is feels like Utah (and all the entrepreneur energy we have in this state, especially all the technology startups we have) seems to feel as a little brother looking up to our big brother (Silicon Valley) and we try to act like them and be them. And you know what? Just like a little brother chasing you around all the time, it’s damn annoying. We’re not Silicon Valley. Get over it, and go build your company.
Great post Fred!!!
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