I think you’re dead on about consumer tech. One of the most gaping holes we have that I believe Austin has in spades is product marketing talent. This is due to the 2nd item needed that you pointed out, a lack of big consumer or software companies in Houston. I am not sure what happened to the minions that left Compaq after HP came in but they don’t seem to be having the same impact that the Dellionaires have.

@ScottW, I’m not trying to compare Austin to The Bay Area, because I don’t really think there’s much comparison. The Bay Area and Silicon Valley are what these high-tech hub efforts are trying to emulate. Entrepreneurs are important, but I know plenty of excellent entrepreneurs who are spinning their wheels in Austin or have moved elsewhere to raise money or be near customers.

@Josh, I liked your point about distance, but I would compare it to California. San Jose is almost as far from San Francisco as Sugarland is from The Woodlands, so I’m not sure how limiting that is. I will say that the points in the comments about Houston’s tech scene comprising energy and NASA related tech is something the city should do more to exploit. In all honesty technology helping extract more natural gas more efficiently is far more interesting than another free VoIP platform.

Coming from the perspective of someone who just moved here, it seems as though the Austin VC scene is small and exclusive. This seems counter to the general feeling of Austin (friendly, no bs). Somehow this should change .

So, first off, it’s futile to start another Valley vs. X war like the Seattle one that raged 2 weeks ago on Techcrunch.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/15/an-outsiders-flawed-view-of-silicon-valley/

Nobody disputes that AV plays a (the) critical role in fueling the tech community in Austin. Enterprise software, network management, and semiconductor startups clearly need AV.

But I’d argue that consumer web companies (except for rollups) need less capital, so AV tends to have less influence on Austin’s consumer web startups. Personally, the idea that for a meriad of reasons, Austin tends to force consumer web entrepreneurs to build cash flow positive businesses with little or no capital doesn’t bother me.

Josh Tabin Startup Houston

On your 3 criteria, if you are saying it is weather then Austin sucks compared to the Valley – there is no comparison and just go home if that is what you want to focus on. If it is quality of life, Austin is way better on some fronts and really lags behind on others. Austin is a much easier place to live, has a way better cost of living, a good core group of people/workforce, plenty of money available to invest in good startups with good entrepreneurs (your statement is wrong about a shortage of money). California has more people (and thus more better entrepreneurs in absolute numbers) that have better ideas and investors that are willing to take big risks and lose all their money on crazy ideas with unproven entrepreneurs. California also has a huge infrastructure problem, all your employees are at risk of getting poached, and a bunch of morons that think they are the next mark zuckerberg but are in fact clueless and really cluttering up the landscape (so does Austin though).

On your next point around needing big companies, that is crazy and wrong also. Look at the most successful startups – they aren’t generally started by people from big companies so I’m not sure why you make this comment. Facebook, Google, eBay, Yahoo, and “all the (other) hot social sites” were founded by smart, accomplished fundable young entrepreneurs and were mostly invested in by venture funds with initial small dollars to see if they would work (capital wasn’t the constraint – it was smart capital that invested in them). Dellionaires haven’t made a dollar on angel investing b/c none of them had an entrepreneurial bone in their body outside of Michael and they haven’t helped the Austin entrepreneurial community one bit. The angels that have added the most value in the Valley (and made the most money) are former ENTREPRENEURS or former venture capitalists that have made so much money that they are better off investing their own money and keeping everything they make (vs. giving their money to limited partners). Austin has this also (Silverton is some rich old AV guy I’ve heard and some other former successful entrepreneurs that regularly write small checks).

On the money front, Austin has plenty. AV has more than a $500MM fund, it looks like they are in the process of raising another big fund, and they have a commitment to the community that is bigger than any venture fund in Silicon Valley has to their community. Look at everything they have their name on. There are a few smaller funds/individuals that will invest in deals early also. I get tired of hearing all of the ragging on AV that they don’t do interesting early stage deals. I’ve heard they are doing late stage deals but when I last visited them a couple of months ago they still seem to have a good group of smart guys that are looking to invest in early stage deals. Look at the list of companies above, of all the companies that are successful in Austin (which are frankly few but are amazingly high quality), AV is an investor in every one of those. I’m not sure how right I am on my criteria but if I look at traffic, press, quality of teams that have been assembled, series B investors, etc. I think AV has either chosen all the winners (or been able to influence the winners?). Here is my list:

Winners Av invested in: CreditCards.com (they filed an IPO) HomeAway.com (that has to be huge given how many employees they have and the other investors that are in the deal) BazaarVoice (looks like they’ve got a great customer list and a great Series B investor) Pluck (seems like they have a bunch of good customers too and a good series B investor) OnNetworks (they seem to have been successful at raising a lot of money after AV invested also)

AV didn’t invest in: ApartmentRatings.com (Internet Brands) – this may have been a winner for the entrepreneur but a venture firm wouldn’t have made enough money to care here. ExpertVillage.com (Demand Media) – ditto.

Losers: AV invested in: Slacker (good luck but is this even in Austin?)

AV didn’t invest in: Minggl (I don’t get it) Shangby (what the?) iTaggit.com (this can’t work – they have no traffic) BedAndBreakfast.com (I’m sure this is a nice lifestyle business) qipit.com (feature not a company) pickaprof.com (I love this business but they couldn’t ever get a venture fund the return they need) NaturallyCurly.com (are you kidding?) ApartmentHomeLiving.com (how is Craigslist working?) uShip.com (sorry Micky but your traffic blows it looks like and I kind of agree with the other guy as I tried to use it to move to CA one time. You did get Benchmark as an investor though – did AV ever take a look even?)

Not sure where HomeDepot.com came from. Are they really in Austin?? GigaNews – Gee, did Om move to Austin?

I haven’t heard of these so I can’t comment but I will where I want to. MindBites (isn’t it the same thing as expert village – is it the same guy)? PeoplePad DwellGo.com (real estate is hosed – good luck) OtherInbox.com (can’t tell what it is but that Josh Baer guy seems smart from what I’ve heard)

So I’m sure I sound like an AV lover. I did work for an AV backed company in the 90’s. It was an OK outcome and frankly I didn’t have much exposure to the venture guys as I was pretty junior. The fact is they actually turned me down for my last startup. I didn’t agree with them so I moved to CA. Guess what, I couldn’t raise money there even after I moved there. That is pathetic I realize given all the money that is there but in the end I think it just wasn’t a good idea. I then joined a great startup that got sold to Yahoo and I’ve had a good experience out here. As I said I’m thinking of moving back. For me, Austin is the best place I could ever want to live. They only way I will is if AV funds the company that I’m thinking about joining. Could Austin use another great big venture firm? Yes. However, there aren’t enough entrepreneurs/ideas to back in Austin so no one has set up an office. I gotta think if there was an opportunity somebody is smart enough to open an office – for gods sake they are opening offices in India and China. It looks like a bunch of good firms are more than happy to invest alongside AV in later rounds. I’m sure if there was enough demand (entrepreneurs, ideas, etc.) then one would move to town. Its simple economics.

Really I think AV is responsible for the tech entrepreneurial community even existing in Austin and you guys better hope they don’t really go away (it always seems like so many seem to be cheering against them – I’m guessing its people they turned down). If they do you all are going to be moving to CA and believe me most of you can’t make it here.

At the end of the day, it is the entrepreneurs that matter. Its whats between their ears, what interpersonal skills they have to be able to sell their idea, and how they do at executing against an idea. So when I look at Austin, it has all the ingredients for success: Money, Entrepreneurs, and ideas. The key is just keeping the balance. If you want more going on and more money, I suspect it will happen when you get better ideas and better people that are fundable in Austin. Frankly, I can’t think of a better place to start a company if you can raise money.

There are stories all across the web about boats, motorcycles, trucks getting stolen. There have been scammers on there stealing thousands and uship was well aware but wanted their 13% so allowed the people to be scammed. Uship deleted the forum posts when people try to warn others about the scam they have fallen prey to.

Do not uship. this is just a blatant way to get your money from you and allow illgal carriers to prey on the innocent. uship is to freight like chat rooms are to pedoephiles.

Mickey, sit down, be quiet and spell check.