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  • From: Thomas Beckett <thomas AT tbeckett.com>
  • To: InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: the triangle as startup-friendly region
  • Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:01:27 -0400


Getting back to the Upside article, I think the writer really confused
the distinction between RTP as a research campus and the Triangle as a
commercial region of the country. He appeared to fault the Park for
adhering to its established purpose -- supporting research -- and for
not being a commercial success. At the same time, he detailed how the
Triangle has improved a great deal as a place for starting new
businesses. Part of that improvement can be attributed to the Park and
the universities as talent pools. Yet he chose to quote Monica Doss's
criticism of the universities for not being commercial enough.
Apparently the only measure of success is market capitalization.

Another thing I noticed is that while the article itself was generally
favorable in tone and content, the headline "Wrong Way RTP" and the
subject headings were quite negative. It struck me as a spin applied by
Upside's editors, sneering down their noses at us from the lofty
Valley. (The author, Jason Kelly's main gig is at DigitalSouth, which
is based in Atlanta.)

Paul, you were allegedly hanging out with those Upside people at that
conference at Duke a few months ago. What sort of attitude did you
discern?



Steven Champeon wrote:
>
> Something that many people forget about SiliValley is that it wasn't
> intended as some pioneering experiment in VC-funded startups, or an
> incubator for the driven entrepreneur when it first started attracting
> attention. It was the home of a few big companies' West Coast offices,
> such as Fairchild Semiconductor, who is still based in Maine IIRC. Sure,
> it was a new office, and several key employees went on to found little
> companies like Intel, but the Valley got its start with the full resources
> of the military industrial complex and some very large research and
> development institutions behind it.
>
> Anyway.
>
> I'm hoping that this group can gradually change the attitudes of local
> investors and VCs and entrepreneurs - who think, for the most part, that
> once they've used local resources for their ill-funded startup phase, it's
> time to move on to the "big time" and use big name firms in NYC, Atlanta,
> DC, and so forth. I've worked with or am good friends with many people
> from those firms, (USWeb/CKS, iXL, Razorfish, USi, Strategic Interactive,
> Studio Archetype - now Sapient, etc.) and they're rarely doing anything
> that local firms can't do, are usually more expensive and less willing to
> commit their top resources to RTP-based firms, and are not often used
> again past the first project. Many of them staff up too fast, using any
> contractors they can find, and guess who gets sent to work on the jobs
> that aren't in the company's local area.
>
> I'd like to sound a wakeup call that lets local investors know that they
> don't have to go outside the Triangle for quality work, anymore than they
> have to go outside for quality employees.
>
> It's all about changing attitudes and forming long-lasting bonds here in
> RTP. It's ridiculous that when my team and I were looking for community
> a couple of years ago, we had to join mailing lists in SF and NYC. Our
> Web design and development mailing list has over 750 members, and I'd say
> of that, only a dozen or less are from the Triangle, /including/ the folks
> who work for hesketh.com. At least partly as a result of the list, we're
> better known in Australia/New Zealand, Great Britain, Russia, Brazil,
> Israel, Sweden, France, etc. than we are in RTP. We have clients in NYC,
> Tel Aviv, London, DC, Atlanta, and so forth, as well as local clients,
> but we still encounter a great deal of reluctance on the part of VCs to
> use us on the same projects that - once they hire a Big Name Firm - the
> Big Name Firm farms out to us anyway :) It's silly.
>
> So let's make some noise and change some minds.
>
> Steve
>
> --
> business: http://hesketh.com ...custom medium- to large-scale web sites
> the book: http://dhtml-guis.com ...Building Dynamic HTML GUIs from IDG
> punditry: http://a.jaundicedeye.com ...negative forces have value
> personal: http://hesketh.com/schampeo/ ...info, projects, random stuff
>
> ---
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