Why High-Tech Companies Are Moving to the City

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444914904577619441778073340.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_MIDDLETopNews

by iProject • 14 years ago

52 35 14 years ago

online.wsj.com

rm9993• 14 years ago

I just moved to NYC from California a year ago. In many ways my quality of life has shot way up. You can't beat the transportation, food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population.

Cities are perfect for attracting the kind of young, interesting, and smart people tech companies want to attract. Also, tech companies are often capable of generating relatively high profit per employee; for these companies, the biggest downside of a city (cost) is not as big of an issue.

w1ntermute3• 14 years ago

> I just moved to NYC from California a year ago. In many ways my quality of life has shot way up. You can't beat the transportation, food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population.

I concede that NYC has the best public transportation in the country, but you must have been living in the sticks in California if you think that you can't find "food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population" there.

carterschonwald3• 14 years ago

Not needing a Car is the the distinction here though.

cncool• 14 years ago

He didn't say he couldn't find "food, culture, and intelligent, diverse population" there.

michaelt3• 14 years ago

Culture depends on travel distance - everywhere can claim to have culture if you're willing to drive far enough.

The only claim to culture that Mountain View or Cupertino has is being within driving distance of San Francisco.

Mvandenbergh2• 14 years ago

Some things are also just a matter of taste. If you're really into theatre for instance, it's hard to beat NYC. If you don't care about that but you really hate cold weather then obviously you're going to choose differently!

rm9993• 14 years ago

I never said you can't find those things in California, nor did I even ever directly compare any city in California with NYC.

"Can't beat" is an idiom, it means I think those things are pretty awesome in NYC :)

eternalban2• 14 years ago

http://mlink.20x200.com/view/503d2c2fdc87ac0b4f19128alyyl.v2...

Can't beat means it sets the standard.

hnwh• 14 years ago

Which part of CA were you living in? Thinking of making a similar move

carterschonwald3• 14 years ago

Fact, thats why I'm working in NYC as I get WellPosed off the ground :) That plus I'm a native.

I have to say one fun upside to NYC is that theres lots of interesting smart folks (both young and old) doing cool stuff that isn't just "website as a business". The wee coworking space I use is especially fun because I'm surrounded by smart young pros doing high end work in design , architecture, fashion, etc.

Variety is good for the brain, especially when designing numerical algorithms all day :)

dohko• 14 years ago

I am actually thinking on doing the opposite move. NYC is great If you earn a lot of money and don't mind spending it. Also everything that is a commodity elsewhere, in NYC is a luxury. (A car, washers and dryer, etc.). It's also unbelievably overcrowded. In the end it can be tons of fun, but if you like good weather, less crowded, cheaper places and more laid back relaxed environments then NYC is not the right place. I would much rather prefer san Francisco or Santa Monica

001sky• 14 years ago

At the same time, high-tech products and industries are more multidisciplinary than they used to be. Success often requires excellence in more than one field of technology and in other lines of business. East London's tech scene is led not by tech firms per se but by "digital creative" companies that combine computer technology with music, art and narrative—and musicians, artists and writers cluster in cities.

Tiktaalik• 14 years ago

Everyone is moving back to the city. In Vancouver there was a long gap where there was no commercial building development in the downtown core, and there was even a short period where they were converting commercial buildings to residential, but there is a significant amount of commercial construction now.

The western Canadian telecom Telus is building[1] a new HQ downtown and is moving there from their current building in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The Telus Garden complex will have a residential component as well, and their employees were offered priority and a bit of a deal on units in it. It sold out pretty much instantly.[2]

[1]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-n... [2]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/teluss-...

natrius• 14 years ago

Here's another data point from Austin:

“Recruiting and retaining great workers is a big part of it, and downtown is where the development and design community wants to work,” said co-founder and CEO Sam Decker. “Startups don’t want the typical Class A, everything carpeted environment. They love character in their office and a place that feels unique. This is an opportunity to have a place where people look forward to coming to work every day just because of that vibe.”

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/aust...

williamcotton• 14 years ago

These are not high-tech companies.

These are interactive media companies.

theorique• 14 years ago

What's the key distinction between a high-tech company and an interactive media company?

Many of the latter have emerged as quite innovative in their use and/or creation of emerging software technologies and tools.

KevinMS• 14 years ago

I agree. These are companies that just duct-tap together high tech, made by others. High tech companies are IBM, Intel, Sun, Oracle, etc, and those are firmly planted outside cities. A good rule of thumb is if the company consists mostly of 20 something hipsters, its not a high-tech company :)

samratjp• 14 years ago

Here's an under rated reason - a night owl's schedule! Tech startup founders and early teams get most of their shit done at night when there are fewer or no distractions. When you're on this schedule, the city life is much more accommodating in terms of food, socialization, etc. Then suddenly, dinner time is suddenly like lunch time.

Firehed• 14 years ago

Living in a city does not lend itself well to getting stuff done at night "when there are no distractions" precisely because those environments provide those nighttime distractions.

Early founder schedules tend to be necessarily isolating. Once you're to the point of having employees and semi-sane work hours, then the rest tends to be personal preference because you can once again coexist with the rest of the world.

nugget• 14 years ago

What happens when residential prices rise so high that you price out many of the same employees who created the critical mass and desire for this urban environment in the first place? How do you recruit a software dev @ $100k/yr when the 1 bedroom SoMa apartment they want costs $3k/month (~ $40k/yr fully loaded, or 50%+ of their take home pay)?

rm9993• 14 years ago

In most cities people can find much cheaper places to live within commuting distance. Cities can't support themselves when people are totally priced out.

For example, I know someone who lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn and pays <600/month (with roommates), and another in a studio for 1200/month. Bushwick is about 30 minutes from Soho by subway.

eternalban2• 14 years ago

Bushwick rocks. Stinks, but it is the best hood in the city. However it is not very techie. Great art scene.

dangrover• 14 years ago

I second this. I was in Bushwick when I lived in NYC. I saw 1-bedrooms going for 1200. I moved to the UES after that, and found that the Manhattan tax really isn't worth it.

Why High-Tech Companies Are Moving to the City

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