Silicon Valley has long been the center of the universe for tech companies that disrupt the status quo. But a confluence of trends – the geographic diffusion of engineering and product management talent, millennial purchasing power, and the rise of e-brands via social media — are creating new opportunities around the country.
In the past year, New York has reached a tipping point as consumer-facing startups proliferate and, similarly, Los Angeles is getting noticed for the success of Snap and Dollar Shave Club (among others).
Silicon Valley’s absolute monopoly on tech talent is shifting as more college graduate engineers opt to live in urban areas near their alma maters, and tech giants from the San Francisco Bay Area are consequently expanding the size of their offices in these cities. In urban centers such as New York and LA we observe these “engineers without borders” are finding synergies with existing experts that have long driven innovation in consumer brands, entertainment, and traditional media empires.
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