From Cincinnati to Silicon Valley, DotLoop CEO explains his move

I'm never going to speak negatively about any employer, but, as much as people are crying foul about the editing of the video, what you see in the video is very analogous to the type of person that Austin is in real life. Austin appears to be very appearance driven -- both in terms of DotLoop's public perception as well as in his persona -- and this video is a great extension of his character. I've been watching the comments on GigOm, and most of them are really spot on based on my experiences with the company.<p>Matt (who is a co-founder and CTO) is a brilliant technologist. I have some severe issues with Brian (imagine that?!), but, the team in Cincinnati is driven (they were on a Death March since mid Janurary for their new product, and pulled it out even with the mental burnout involved) and I have all the confidence and faith that they will continue to thrive even though they are now maintaining two different code bases with their new release.<p>DotLoop has always had a problem finding talent in Cincinnati (they hired me through a recruiter). There was an issue with culture when I was there, but the location of the office, environment, and management play into it. I don't expect that to change -- and if this video was around when I was looking for a new job, it would have striken DotLoop off of my list rather quickly -- and as much as I'd like to think that this will change with offices in Silicon Valley and Austin (based on their jobs page), unless they make some rather major management changes, (move away from a MBA/Management driven structure to an engineering driven structure), I don't see DotLoop attracting the type of talent that they're looking for.<p>The product is excellent for the market -- it's simple to use, and well suited for their client base, and I wish them the best.

We're not SF. We'll never be SF and that's just fine. We have a vibrant and enthusiastic tech community here in Cincinnati. We have a great city that's doing all the right things to attract and retain talent, too.<p>If there's one thing we're doing poorly, it's making those points known. After Queen City Merge, we started working on Made In Cincy to create a unified presence of tech startups, agencies and individuals. We're out here, doing good work every day.

I get shit all the time from my friends for not living in SF. I stopped worrying so much when I realized most of the companies I look up to aren't even there (Balsamiq, 37signals, Mailchimp, to name a few). To be clear, I love SF, but I just don't feel like moving. On the flipside, I really cringe when people get defensive about their location. Really, we are all connected, through the power of the internet.

I grew up in Cincinnati (20 years) before moving to the valley. What he says is generally true.<p>Obviously success doesn't hinge on location but if I had it to do all over again I'd have moved out here for my first startup in the early 2000s. I'm here for my second startup and the serendipitous opportunities are frequent and priceless.<p>I know people get defensive and he does sort of take a few jabs at Cincinnati (probably a dumb move on his part) but in the end much of it is true.<p>Edit: added more content.

What a jerk! Cincinnati is a great place to have a startup.