Founders

theengine

Where should I live?

We've all asked ourselves that question at some point.

If you're chasing a dream in tech or business. Traditionally, that would mean heading to San Francisco or New York. But is it still true?

Do you feel you have to live in NYC or SF to succeed as a builder?

Do you feel you have to live in NYC or SF to succeed as a builder?

https://youtu.be/3laMTqgb_xE

building @theengine incubated by /skylab. copyright lawyer by training, producer by trade, web3 maxi at heart.

Everyone is from somewhere. Cofounder and CEO of Pinata. https://www.pinata.cloud/

wouldve said def yes before, but talking to @kyletut at farcon about building pinata from his farm changed my opinion

@kapuster  

Alright, here is my strategy:
1. I live in Nebraska because it allows me to build without unwanted influence. SF, NYC, LA, etc are thought bubbles of people wanting you to follow their world view. In Nebraska, I have zero unwanted influence around building my company.

2. These thought bubbles are near-term dangerous to your business because you chase trends. If everyone around you is doing it, you will too. It's the ultimate herd behavior. Herd behavior by extremely intelligent people, granted, but still herd behavior.

4. But, eventually I'm able to match my ideas with their lingo and communicate my ideas. This generally leads to a leap forward. Simultaneously, I update my views while I'm there by listening to what they are talking about. From that, I take that info and bring it back to Nebraska to synthesis...

5. Alone, without unwanted influence. This allows me to understand things from a more objective perspective and how it applies to my business. This often makes me look out of sync with everyone else...because I am. My cadence tends to be different but I use it to my advantage.

6. To summarize, you need to understand *your* advantage not being in those cities and leverage them. However, you can't ignore that the smartest people in the world are not where you are and you need to seek them out. By blending the two worlds, I think you can build better than one or the other.

3. I fly to SF, NYC, LA frequently enough, however, to test and update my world view. I test my world view by taking the ideas I came up with away from the herd and talking to them. At first, it tends to be very jarring. I tend to not be able to use the lingo they use because I'm away...