NYC, as an example, is becoming more and more a strong place to start a company, but it isn't on equal footing yet.
The thing with starting a company is its very rarely just you that is involved in the enterprise; you need developers, you need designers, you need bd people. People that do these things for startups tend to have a slightly different slant or skill-set than people that do them for large companies. As a result, it is a distinct advantage to be near large population centers that have a wealth of this talent.
One of the contributing factors to this is the organization that spawned the very website this is posted to; YCombinator based in SV and companies doing a class move to the bay area for it. The gravity is strong here.
Can you start a company outside the valley? Yes. Is it going to make things much more difficult for yourself doing so? Probably.
Another contributing factor to the dispersion of startups that hasn't been mentioned is remote work. It is possible to have an office in SF and keep yourself and your family elsewhere.
The thing with starting a company is its very rarely just you that is involved in the enterprise; you need developers, you need designers, you need bd people. People that do these things for startups tend to have a slightly different slant or skill-set than people that do them for large companies. As a result, it is a distinct advantage to be near large population centers that have a wealth of this talent.
One of the contributing factors to this is the organization that spawned the very website this is posted to; YCombinator based in SV and companies doing a class move to the bay area for it. The gravity is strong here.
Can you start a company outside the valley? Yes. Is it going to make things much more difficult for yourself doing so? Probably.
Another contributing factor to the dispersion of startups that hasn't been mentioned is remote work. It is possible to have an office in SF and keep yourself and your family elsewhere.