Here is a great post by Nirav, VP of Interactive Marketing at NutshellMail.com. He argues that lots of web startups can be successful outside of Silicon Valley but it is that much harder to do. In San Francisco you can meet and network with investors, potential partners and others almost anywhere. That eco-system is really the secret sauce. I know this has been discussed and commented on several times before but Nirav’s post clearly identifies all those reasons with a couple of personal anecdotes.
I have seen the development of such an eco system in Cambridge, England called the Silicon Fen. Their replication has worked well, although it does not have the same scale as the Silicon Valley.
Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China is also attempting to create this eco-system with migrants from the Silicon Valley. Yoyoor led by Joss Shen is an example of this new breed of companies in the region.
Read Nirav’s entire article here.