Why to Move to a Startup Hub

October 2007 After the last talk I gave, one of the organizers got up on the stage to deliver an impromptu rebuttal.

2007年10月 我最后一次演讲结束后，一位组织者上台即兴反驳。

That never happened before.

这以前从未发生过。

I only heard the first few sentences, but that was enough to tell what I said that upset him: that startups would do better if they moved to Silicon Valley.

我只听到了前几句话，但这足以说明我所说的话让他不高兴：初创公司如果搬到硅谷会做得更好。

This conference was in London, and most of the audience seemed to be from the UK.

这次会议在伦敦举行，大多数观众似乎来自英国。

So saying startups should move to Silicon Valley

所以说初创公司应该搬到硅谷

seemed like a nationalistic remark: an obnoxious American telling them that if they wanted to do things right they should all just move to America.

这似乎是一种民族主义言论：一个令人讨厌的美国人告诉他们，如果他们想做正确的事，他们都应该搬到美国。

Actually I'm less American than I seem.

事实上，我并不像看上去那么美国化。

I didn't say so, but I'm British by birth.

我没这么说，但我生来就是英国人。

And just as Jews are ex officio allowed to tell Jewish jokes, I don't feel like I have to bother being diplomatic with a British audience.

正如犹太人当然可以讲犹太笑话一样，我觉得我不必费心与英国观众保持外交关系。

The idea that startups would do better to move to Silicon Valley

初创公司搬到硅谷会做得更好的想法

is not even a nationalistic one.

甚至不是一种民族主义。

[ 1 ] It's the same thing I say to startups in the US.

[ 1 ] 这也是我对美国初创企业说的同样的话。

Y Combinator alternates between coasts every 6 months.

Y Combinator 每 6 个月在海岸之间交替一次。

Every other funding cycle is in Boston.

每个其他融资周期都在波士顿。

And even though Boston is the second biggest startup hub in the US (and the world), we tell the startups from those cycles that their best bet is to move to Silicon Valley.

尽管波士顿是美国（乃至世界）第二大创业中心，但我们告诉这些周期中的初创公司，他们最好的选择是搬到硅谷。

If that's true of Boston, it's even more true of every other city.

如果波士顿是这样，那么其他所有城市都更是如此。

This is about cities, not countries.

这是关于城市，而不是国家。

And I think I can prove I'm right.

我想我可以证明我是对的。

You can easily reduce the opposing argument ad what most people would agree was absurdum.

你可以很容易地减少大多数人认为是荒谬的反对论点。

Few would be willing to claim that it doesn't matter at all where a startup is—that a startup operating out of a small agricultural town wouldn't benefit from moving to a startup hub.

很少有人愿意声称初创公司在哪里根本不重要——在农业小镇运营的初创公司不会因为搬到初创中心而受益。

Most people could see how it might be helpful to be in a place where there was

大多数人都可以看到，在一个有这样的地方会有什么帮助。

infrastructure for startups, accumulated knowledge about how to make them work, and other people trying to do it.

初创公司的基础设施、积累的有关如何让它们运作的知识以及其他尝试这样做的人。

And yet whatever argument you use to prove that startups don't need to move from London to Silicon Valley could equally well be used to prove startups don't need to move from smaller towns to London.

然而，无论你用什么论据来证明初创公司不需要从伦敦搬到硅谷，都同样可以用来证明初创公司不需要从较小的城镇搬到伦敦。

The difference between cities is a matter of degree.

城市之间的差异只是程度问题。

And if, as nearly everyone who knows agrees, startups are better off in Silicon

如果像几乎所有了解的人都同意的那样，初创公司在硅谷会更好

Valley than Boston, then they're better off in Silicon Valley than everywhere else too.

硅谷比波士顿好，那么他们在硅谷也比其他地方过得更好。

I realize I might seem to have a vested interest in this conclusion, because startups that move to the US might do it through Y Combinator.

我意识到我似乎对这个结论有既得利益，因为搬到美国的初创公司可能会通过 Y Combinator 做到这一点。

But the American startups we've funded will attest that I say the same thing to them.

但我们资助的美国初创公司将证明我对他们说过同样的话。

I'm not claiming of course that every startup has to go to Silicon Valley to succeed.

当然，我并不是说每个初创公司都必须去硅谷才能成功。

Just that all other things being equal, the

只要在其他条件相同的情况下，

more of a startup hub a place is, the better startups will do there.

一个地方越是创业中心，初创公司在那里就会做得越好。

But other considerations can outweigh the advantages of moving.

但其他考虑因素可能会超过搬家的好处。

I'm not saying founders with families should uproot them to move halfway around the world; that might be too much of a distraction.

我并不是说有家庭的创始人应该背井离乡，搬到半个世界；这可能会让人分心。

Immigration difficulties might be another reason to stay put.

移民困难可能是留在原地的另一个原因。

Dealing with immigration problems is like raising money: for some reason it seems to consume all your attention.

处理移民问题就像筹集资金：出于某种原因，它似乎耗尽了你所有的注意力。

A startup can't

初创公司不能

afford much of that.

负担得起其中的大部分。

One Canadian startup we funded spent about 6 months working on moving to the US.

我们资助的一家加拿大初创公司花了大约 6 个月的时间才搬到美国。

Eventually they just gave up, because they couldn't afford to take so much time away from working on their software.

最终他们放弃了，因为他们无法花太多时间来开发他们的软件。

(If another country wanted to establish a rival to Silicon Valley, the single best thing they could do might be to create a special visa for startup founders.

（如果另一个国家想要与硅谷竞争，他们能做的最好的事情可能就是为初创公司创始人创建特殊签证。

US immigration policy is one of Silicon

美国的移民政策是硅谷的政策之一

Valley's biggest weaknesses.) If your startup is connected to a specific industry, you may be better off in one of its centers.

硅谷最大的弱点。）如果您的初创公司与特定行业相关，那么您在其中心之一可能会更好。

A startup doing something related to entertainment might want to be in New York or LA.

一家从事娱乐相关业务的初创公司可能希望在纽约或洛杉矶。

And finally, if a good investor has committed to fund you if you stay where you are, you should probably stay.

最后，如果一个好的投资者承诺在你留在原地的情况下为你提供资金，那么你可能应该留下来。

Finding investors is hard.

寻找投资者很难。

You generally shouldn't pass up a definite funding offer to move.

通常，您不应放弃明确的搬迁资金提议。