BendTech

The Le Web conference recently wrapped up their ’08 session (in Paris, fwiw).  The news coming out of it has been interesting on a number of fronts, but one piece has attracted a lot of attention:  Le Web founder and host, Loic Le Meur, and TechCrunch founder, Michael Arrington, have been on friendly terms up until recently, but they’ve started trading blows in a bit of a kerfuffle that started during the closing “Gilmore Gang” session.  It’s an Us. (or U.S.) vs. Them debate about how the different cultures in Silicon Valley and France/Europe affect entrepreneurship.  While watching the Gilmore Gang video, I was surprised to recognize the same insecurities in European tech entrepreneurs that I share with people here in Central Oregon – an acute awareness and sensitivity to the fact that, “we’re not Silicon Valley”.

It was a surprising epiphany, that Paris and Bend have this commonality, given how profoundly different the two cities are in pretty much all other aspects.  It gave me a bit of hope that the debate might turn up a nugget or two of insight into the nature of the issues we face.  Unfortunately the panel was populated entirely by Silicon Valley personalities, so insights were in short supply.  It didn’t help that some of the overinflated egos on stage were knocking back wine at a good clip.  It was entertaining (in the train-wreck-fashion that all Ugly Americans are), but not insightful.

Let me try to nurse at least a little wisdom from the discussion and do a quick rundown of the issues as I see them.  I doubt these will come as a surprise to any of you, but maybe some speculation as to how they might apply to the European startup community will turn up something useful …

Access to venture capital: Both communities have a decent level of wealth.  I would argue the issue here is less about the quantity of capital available and more about the nature of that capital.  When taking venture capital, it’s critical to consider where it’s coming from.  Silicon Valley venture firms specialize in fostering connections to the people and businesses that you may need to succeed.  A startup in Paris or Bend, taking money from someone in the local community won’t benefit from those connections.

Proximity to the Tech Community: Part of the Silicon Valley culture is the pervasive “techiness” of everyday life.  Whether you like it or not, you are constantly meeting other people in the same business, pursuing the same dream.  If you’re looking for advice, or want to strike up a partnership, or need have questions about the latest technology, you need only ask the person across the dinner table from you.

When I moved to Bend, it was precisely the lack of this tech-focus that endeared me to the community.  I really like having dinner conversations where the topic is not guaranteed to cover which startups failed that day and why.  And I am sure that in the most-cosmopolitan of european cities, Paris,  this is even more true.  My guess is that in Paris this is an annoyance that can be overcome by just doing the legwork necessary to find the right people.  But here in Bend… well… we’re a small enough community that this is much more difficult.

Access to affordable talent: This could probably be an entire post unto itself.  Bend is much more affordable than either Paris or Silicon Valley (having a 40% lower cost-of-living than the Bay Area).  But that doesn’t necessarily translate to affordable local talent.  Many of the professionals I’ve talked to here are telecommuting for companies that pay Bay Area salaries.  Thus, a startup here doesn’t necessarily benefit from that reduced cost-of-living.  For a Parisian startup, I have no idea what the local talent landscape looks like in and around Paris, but being a major metropolitan area, I’m sure it’s pretty good.  And then there are all those ultra-cheap developers in Poland and the Ukraine (and India) that are only 1-3 timezones away, as opposed to the 9-11 hour difference that we have to deal with.

Cultural challenges: The main issue that Le Meur and Arrington discuss is simply that of life/work balance.  In Silicon Valley, you’re expected to live and breath work, whereas in Europe 2-hour lunches and 35-40 hour work-weeks (“no, really, just 35-40 hours”) are more the norm.  Central Oregon lies somewhere in between the two I suspect.  We put a lot of emphasis on getting out and enjoying the incredible wilderness around us, but I also know that people are willing to work pretty damn hard here.  We’ll put in the 60+ hour work weeks, but also find the time to go for that bike ride in the afternoon, or take in the Munch and Music concert.

So that’s it, my “look how much Central Oregon resembles Paris” rundown.  How’d I do?

(BTW, check out the other Le Web ’08 content)