Ask anybody where you can find the latest in technological innovation and they will most likely tell you to go to Silicon Valley in California. It has become notorious as the place to be for anybody that wants to make it in the tech world; there’s even a hit TV show set there. It's the mecca of the tech startup world since Steve Jobs started Apple in Palo Alto. It seems as though Silicon Valley sits firmly on its throne as the king of technological development... but maybe things aren’t as stable as you think. There are other cities that are starting to plan their own revolution. One of the most prominent ones is Los Angeles. Though it isn’t always known for its tech companies, Los Angeles is starting to attract some big names and people are opting to set up there instead of San Francisco because there is less competition when you are trying to hire and maintain talent. Is it time for Silicon Valley to step down and let a new king takeover?
When Did This Happen?
Ten years ago, Los Angeles was synonymous with the movie industry. It attracted the most famous stars from around the world and made billions every year. There were a few notable tech companies around, like Myspace, but there was no significant tech community whatsoever. It is only in the last two or three years or so that there has been an influx of companies deciding to set up in the area. Now it is home to some of the biggest tech companies out there including Evan Spiegel's Snapchat and Elon Musk's SpaceX, arguably the most influential tech enterprise around at the moment. These days it is ranked as the third largest entrepreneurial hub in the United States.
How Did It Happen?
This is such a rapid transformation, you might be wondering just how it happened. Los Angeles has a lot of sway in the gaming and ecommerce industries and IT support in Los Angeles is becoming a more important industry as demand increases rapidly. Gaming and ecommerce are both fast growing industries which are sure to bring a lot of new talent to the area, but that doesn’t explain why people started going there in the first place.
The main reason that a lot of tech companies started relocating was that they were having difficulty hiring people. In Silicon Valley, there are so many opportunities that companies have to compete for the best people, and this often means paying above the odds. If you can’t afford to do that, you’ll have to make do with whoever is left. At the minute, companies don’t have this problem in Los Angeles, but it is likely to become an issue if it takes over as the number one place for tech innovation.
The second reason is the amount of investment that is going into the area. In recent years, various investors spent $900 billion backing various start-ups that were operating in Los Angeles. This gave birth to huge numbers of new companies, some of which have been very successful.
There is also an abundance of graduates in the area. The universities in Los Angeles churn out more engineers than anywhere else in the country. That means companies that are based there have thousands of college graduates to choose from every year, making sure they get the best people before anybody else.
I hope you enjoyed this article about the new redistribution of tech startups away from Silicon Valley, particularly to Los Angeles.
Interested in more articles about startup culture?
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Published by Michael J Schiemer
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