I'm having a hard time connecting with fellow hackers/entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. The mentality of most people is to do a day job if they are programmers. No one in tech has a startup mentality - does everyone have that problem where you are? Looks like a move to the valley seems imminent.....
"<i>... I'm having a hard time connecting with fellow hackers/entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. The mentality of most people is to do a day job if they are programmers. No one in tech has a startup mentality ..."</i><p>Move <p>... or startup a startup group in LA to let like minded people clump. We've had one just start in au, melb (artichoke end of the startup world) around twitter. A twitter channel was created, MTUB (Melbourne Twitter Underground Brigade, <a href="http://twitter.com/mtub" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/mtub</a> ), broadcast to people living in melb and the clumpiness began ...<p>- <a href="http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/258693" rel="nofollow">http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/258693</a><p>- <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/byte/sets/72157601494320939/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/byte/sets/72157601494320939/</a><p>- <a href="http://benbarren.blogspot.com/2007/06/mtub1-when-friends-followers-become.html" rel="nofollow">http://benbarren.blogspot.com/2007/06/mtub1-when-friends-fol...</a><p>I don't think this is an uncommon problem. You just have to know where to look. A bit like at school, the computer lab, chess club or D&D groups. <p>Any chess clubs in LA?
Have you tried attending any of the tech networking events in LA? There is a strong, small, but growing tech / startup community in LA. If you haven't attended Twiistup, Lunch 2.0, LA Web App Meetup, or Los Angeles Open Coffee Club, etc. than I would suggest you start there. But there are definately people with the 'startup mentality'.<p>It's no valley, that's for sure, but there are those of us in the trenches working full time on our startups in LA. Don't give up!
The first startup I ever worked for was in LA - a film compositing software company. The scene isn't nearly as big as silicon valley, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if tech startups related to the film industry are more common in LA. <p>It's a cool area, too, especially if you have a math background. Plus, you can get academy awards :) The founder of the company I worked for had three, and another dude I worked with had one. Of course, these are the sci&tech ones, not the ones you see on TV. But they do send a cute actress to host it.<p>One thing I'd say in favor of LA - the entertainment industry may be hard driven, but they sure do reward talent. If you rock on the tech side, there is trememdous opportunity.
I wonder if any ad hoc teams have been funded through yc. And if so, how many? Most (all?) of the startups I know have had founders who met in college or had otherwise worked together previously.
It's definitely not the worst place to do a startup, but it's only a few hundred miles from the best place. I'm not going to work in LA ever again myself.<p>