Silicon Valley vs Silicon Alley

I am in NYC right now. Today I met with my friend Jack Hidary and we had a conversation as to why NYC, a city that is so successful in so many fields, has failed to produce dominant technology companies. Silicon Alley never really took off while Silicon Valley continues to dominate the American and global Internet. My answer? Mobility. In America people just move to where the jobs are. If we went through the ranks of the most successful technology companies in the Valley we would probably find a lot of uprooted New Yorkers contributing to their success. In Europe however, people tend to stay where they grew up. As a result there are less clusters and all industries are more scattered.

• company creation
• mobility
• technology companies