Tim Ferriss found Silicon Valley was too 'closed-minded' and moved to Austin

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-tim-ferriss-left-silicon-valley-for-austin-texas-2017-12

by rmason • 9 years ago

50 35 9 years ago

Living in Austin, TX I don't think we're any better than SF: Sure things are still cheaper here and we got live music venues (that are dying out) but from a tech perspective we're lagging behind. Additionally, the transport infrastructure here is poor, the gentrification is out of control and what once was a warm and welcoming community for creatives is turning more and more into a pay-for-access sh^tshow

techsupporter3• 9 years ago

the gentrification is out of control

I'm a native Texan[0] and I have to say, I wonder where all of the angst about gentrifying Texas has come from over the last twenty years. Everyone has been gentrifying Texas for as long as I've been alive[1]. I watched my hometown go from a sleepy Dallas bedroom suburb 30 minutes from anything to six-figures of population and now a proper business headquarters in its own right. It even has its own live music venue and three (THREE!) actual rail public transportation stations. I never thought I'd see the day.

Nobody seemed to much care when it was Californians[2] selling off their million-dollar beach houses and buying four-acre ranchettes in the Dallas, Houston, and Austin suburbs. But now that Californians[2] are selling off their two-million-dollar inland houses and buying townhouses in the city, people cry foul.

What do people expect to happen when a lot of folks show up and want to live in an area? Folks have always gone where the jobs are and now some of those jobs pay a shitload of money and are actually located inside the urban area. I mean, I guess we could keep doing the other thing we've been doing in abundance, which is making one solid Metroplex from the Red River to Hillsboro, but that seems a little wasteful these days, especially since the reservoirs don't look like they can keep up...

0 - I write this only as "where I come from," not as any particular authority on anything besides my own vision.

1 - A lot longer than the average tech worker these days, for sure.

2 - Not a dog on Californians, just they're the most common folks to pack up and move east, particularly since moving west gets a little damp.

orliesaurus3• 9 years ago

I should have said "Gentrification + Poor choice of how you're tearing down neighborhoods to create super-cool multiplex buildings" It's not much the fact that gentrification happens, but how it is been happening. Usually - find an old building that's been abandoned or a depot. or some poor folk's homes - buy it for little, nuke it down and rebuild something that doesn't blend in and is usually so tall that hides the sun, but that you can slot up and resell for a big margin.

Cookingboy2• 9 years ago

I moved from Austin to SV, tried to do a start up there and all.

In my experience the average startup scene (angels, VCs, tech talents, etc) are pretty much all bush league when compared to Silicon Valley, despite some of the glaring flaws of SV startup scene. There are exceptions to the rules, but I was mostly unimpressed during my time there.

Austin Ventures was the biggest VC in town back then (probably still is), and I've heard that the unwritten rule for the firm is that they do not invest in first time founders.

That tells you how risk-averse and "open minded" Austin tech scene is.

But with Tim Ferriss's reputation and background, Austin is a great place to be because he gets to be the big fish in the small, growing pond. I'm sure he's doing very well at the local speaker scene.

wyclif• 9 years ago

But with Tim Ferriss's reputation and background

You mean his reputation as a bullshit artist? http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-t...

Cookingboy2• 9 years ago

Cough I tried to be civil on HackerNews cough.

But yeah, he'd command very good speaker rates over there ;)

3131s• 9 years ago

Seriously, who cares where he lives? I rarely flag stories but will make an exception for promotional "guru" types like Tim Ferris.

crooked-v• 9 years ago

I'm as socially liberal as you get, and I find it nauseating how many topics or dissenting opinions are simply out-of-bounds in Silicon Valley.

Saying this in such a generic form, without actually mentioning what any of the topics or dissenting opinions are, raises a red flag for me.

WillPostForFood• 9 years ago

Mentioning the topics invites criticism, so why bother? See Sam Altman..

asabjorn6• 9 years ago

What benefit do you think it would have to bring up what he dissents on if he is correct? Assuming he is correct that would risk proving his point in a way that distracts from the debate he is trying to start.

nzjrs• 9 years ago

And objecting to his statement and inviting him take a purity test raises a red flag for me...

emerged• 9 years ago

Ah the red flag of "out of bounds"

asabjorn6• 9 years ago

He is on point. The common way to approach any questioning of the common way of thinking is to always deny, never admit to anything and make counter accusations.

The questions are never answered, and the counter accusations are aggressive charicatures that most often has little relation to what was claimed.

I personally find this more scary than McCarthyism because while it used the judicial process, the current attitude is to rule by mob with no process and without hearing both sides.

Our democracy is fragile and rely on us respecting the rule of law . These people have the power to ruin people’s lives and use it. They should be ashamed for risking our democracy in this way for short term gain, in the naive belief that democracy is the default state of a society.

gonzo• 9 years ago

Austin sucks. Don’t move here.

stevenh• 9 years ago

Why?

bitdeveloper• 9 years ago

GP just wants to keep all that sweet sweet Austin air for his/her self.

stevenwoo• 9 years ago

It's gone downhill since they built the 360 Parkway bridge. /s (it's something different for everybody). I think when I left they started building a Walmart on 2244 at the end near Bee Cave and there was one subdivision between Austin and Bee Cave besides the Barton Creek intersection, and I assume by now the entire road is lined with either subdivisions or businesses now.

techsupporter3• 9 years ago

Never thought I'd see the day when somebody got defensive about McNeil. I remember when they built the high school there, near where my sister lived. It was almost "out in the middle of nowhere..."

jamestimmins3• 9 years ago

This debate always reminds me of the quote by John Stuart Mill in On Liberty.

"Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, and, if possible, prevent the formation, of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own."

asabjorn6• 9 years ago

This quote seem to talk about a group controlling the judicial process, which is unlike the situation Tim Ferris describe where people are punished in an extrajudicial manner without due process.

jamestimmins3• 9 years ago

Interesting take. I interpret "against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties" as saying that the penalties are explicitly extrajudicial (exile or censure of some kind, presumably). I'm totally open to the possibility that I'm wrong though!

drcross• 9 years ago

I suspect Ferris's move is secretly more to do with house prices and cost of living. Unless you are actively working in the valley there's no reason to be there because you can cut your living expenses significantly if your work is location independent anyway. I suspect Tim is on the proud side of admitting this.

bcaulfield• 9 years ago

Lots of people in arts moving there, something which used to give the Bay Area an edge.

krrrh• 9 years ago

He was an early investor in Uber, AirBnB, amongst others, not to mention that he’s probably making 10s of thousands per month off his podcast alone. Money is not factoring in to this decision.

cholantesh• 9 years ago

In the Reddit thread, he very, very begrudgingly mentioned lower income tax rates in TX, and several Redditors surmised that this was more important than anything else.

pwinnski• 9 years ago

The income tax rate in TX is 0%, which is very low indeed.

vfulco• 9 years ago

Good way to get additional PR for one's products/services. Jump aboard the train already moving. So freaking obvious. What a thought leader.

asabjorn6• 9 years ago

We need every single leader that agrees to stand up for our democracy and inclusiveness in Silicon Valley. Currently the opposite side is way louder.

whiddershins• 9 years ago

Many of the comments here seem to miss the context of Ferriss's quote, possibly it wasn't clear in the business insider article.

Ferriss indicated he doesn't want to be involved particularly in startups anymore, negating that advantage of living in SV, he was NOT claiming that Austin is a good or better place for startups.

As for close-minded, I believe he is saying something very similar to what Sam Altman wrote in a recent essay; just so everyone knows what to disagree/agree with.

I, a New Yorker, have zero opinion on either place.

Tim Ferriss found Silicon Valley was too 'closed-minded' and moved to Austin

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