Thinking about startups

I just saw a new post by Paul Graham on Reddit today. After I read it, I went back through the archives and re-read Why to Move to a Startup Hub. And this got me thinking.

As far as I know, KC does not have a lot of tech startups. Admittedly, I could be wrong, as I don't know a lot of the local geeky types here, but that's the impression that I get. We're certainly not Silicon Valley or Boston, the two hubs mentioned in Graham's essay. And that's fine. I like KC just as it is, wacky government follies (Inez Tenenbaum and the whole thing with the commissioners of police being appointed by the state legislature), urban flight, and all.

That said, somebody tell me why KC can't be a startup hub. We've got cheap housing in the city (I'm paying $600 for a 2-bedroom place, for example). We've got all these neat-o limestone caves that make for a great place to put a datacenter. We've got great coffee. We've got barbecue out the proverbial wazoo, and lots of vegetarian options to boot. I don't know how conducive Kansas or Missouri law are to forming startups, but I'm sure someone knows - and laws can always be changed.

So let's not accept SF and Boston as the country's only startup hubs. Let's show the world that there's more to Kansas City than jazz and barbecue. Let's show the world just how many smart people are here in Kansas City, and who are going to stay in Kansas City. I don't want to bring Mohammed to the mountain. I want to bring the mountain to Mohammed.

To that end, I'm proposing a hack day - a day for smart folks to get together, share ideas, and work on those ideas. You don't have to be a programmer, or even a computer geek - those are just skills, skills you can learn. Just bring yourself, bring your brain, and bring all the ideas you have; the crazier the better. Let's set the date for a month from now, March 15, and place and time yet to be determined.

Come on, folks. Let's show the world what KC is made of.

KC Blogosphere

I knew that the few blogs I'd seen having to do with KC couldn't be the only ones in town. And was I ever right.

The Star has a couple of blogs:

Prime Buzz, touted as "Today's Political Intelligence and Insight". A brief reading suggests that it's much more focused on reporting the stories than commenting on them, so more "Intelligence" than "Insight".

Crime Scene KC. This one's better on the commentary, but I don't see a lot of stuff specific to Kansas City there.

Next we have KC Light Rail - Not a lot of commentary from what I can see, mostly information about the proposed plans for light rail here in KC.

There are scads and scads of general-interest KC blogs. I'll link just a few:

Tony's Kansas City - "Opinion, Jokes, and Stories from KC". This guy is pretty good.

Midtown Miscreant - Hey, another Midtowner!

Gone Mild, who's sick at home.

BlogKC - lots of short posts about various and sundry things.

And lots lots more. Blogs galore!

Maybe we need a Kansas City blogroll, something like Lowcountry Blogroll from my old stomping grounds in SC.

Kansas City Dilettante

It's more than a little late in the game, but I've decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon and try and make a little dough out of it. We'll see where that gets me.

So, I suppose I should begin by giving an idea of what this blog is about. I realize that a blog doesn't have to be "about" anything per se, but I do want to give an idea of what I want to do with this blog. Besides the swollen waves of dollar bills coming through my door from all the ad revenue I'm sure to generate from you poor saps doing nine to five, "living the gray flannel life", I mean.

As the title suggests, I'm interested in a lot of things. Thus this blog is going to be about a lot of things - whatever strikes my fancy from day to day. I'm going to try very hard, however, to keep the content about Kansas City, my new home. KC is a big place. I don't think I'll have a lot of trouble.

I'm also unemployed, having recently lost my job. So you can expect a fair bit of content about being unemployed and the steps I've taken to keep a roof over my wife's and my heads and food on our table.

So welcome to one and all. I plan to talk about a lot of different things. I hope that you'll find something worth reading here.