Why Silicon Valley remains the land for internet entpreneurs

A good post by Jeremy i invite you to read. Extract below

1. Creative entrepreneurs with a can-do mentality (from dream to execution)
2. Top-notch Universities (Stanford, Berkeley, etc.) & R&D labs (Bell labs & Xerox Park)
3. Venture capitalists back seed and early-stage projects
4. Geeky mindset: appetite for innovation and technology
5. Attracts top technical talents from all over the world
6. « Nothing is impossible » state of mind
7. Failure isn’t perceived as evil: you learn from your mistakes
8. Skills and drive matter more than age, status, degrees, name, bank account well..we’re in the US so maybe, etc.)
9. Official support from relevant authorities (State, tax administration, regulators, politicians, etc.)
10. Climate! (I truly believe software developers are very climate-sensitive)

I see a lot of similarities with Israel. But what we miss is the “consumer” culture. Something you can learn but that i believe our universities are not good enough at teaching. The real advantage of Israel vs the US is its ability to consider from day one international perspectives whereas american startup focus mainly on US.

But for now we have much to learn from what is going on there

Tags: entrepreneurs

Comments

[Jeremy Fain]

Hey Ouriel,

Thanks for the plug!

Your turn to do some work))): How do you think Israel fits as a land for Internet entrepreneurs considering these 10 points?

[Omer]

Hey Ouriel,
As an Israeli venture capital representative i suggest that you will post an Israeli comment on why the Israeli hi-tech entrepreneurship industry is so strong.
what do you say? :)

[Marc Duchesne]

Hello Ouriel,

About Israel-based startups vs. US' ones : it is simply a matter of domestic market.
North-America : a single continent by itself, for only two countries. Whose countries share the same roots, are of the same culture (save Quebec in Canada and New Orleans in the US ;-) and speak the same language. A startup can think local : that's 300+ millions people w/o borders. No localization required, no need to adapt to specific/local culture, etc.
Take Israel now : small country, right in the middle of a fantastic assortiment of countries, cultures, religions, history, people... The only option for any entrepreneur there : think global.
Same explanation for the status of Belgium in Europe : a very small country, surrounded by giants such as UK, Germany, and France. The only option for Belgium to survive : think global. Hence the numerous headquarters of international companies and the organizations like E.C., NATO, etc...

HTH,
_Marc