Re:Be where your business is
by verisimilidude on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @05:45PM
(#34332592)
Not to get too pedantic, but California does have a massive agriculture industry. UC Davis is one of the best schools in the field. It’s not much of a stretch at all for agtech businesses to grow and thrive here, locally.
I guess you could argue those businesses should be in Sacramento instead of San Jose.
But example aside, I do agree with your overall point.
California’s agriculture industry is not only massive but also one of the most profitable in the country, accounting for a disproportionate fraction of the food Americans eat (as opposed to e.g. corn for distillers/biofuels/animal feed) and US exports to the rest of the world. Based on cash receipts, California is #1 in the country overall (Iowa is second followed by Nebraska and Texas)
Re:Be where your business is
by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @06:37PM
(#34333038)
Don’t think I’m going out on a limb suggesting a Fresno farmer will receive an Ann Arbor or Irvine-based start-up more warmly than one from San Francisco.
Oh I’ll take your word on that, having no ag-sales experience myself :-)
Just wanted to point out that even before accounting for industry size, there’s just more profit sloshing around California’s ag industry which makes it easier to square market fit with the returns VCs desire.
Re:Be where your business is
by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @05:48PM
(#34332609)
Totally! Which doubled my Iowan buddy’s confusion. A Central Valley, Davis or Irvine-based company would have credibility a San Francisco-based on doesn’t. That “won’t even open the door” effect is huge, and part of what the author is getting at. (The other being org chart discrepancies.)
Re:Be where your business is
by verisimilidude on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @05:57PM
(#34332692)
Agreed, that does make a lot of sense.
An oil & gas start-up in San Francisco is going to have a tougher time than one in Houston. You don’t see those much. But you do see e.g. agtech in the Bay Area flying out weekly salespeople to Iowa. It’s trivial for a competitor to undercut them on credibility alone.
That said, I think this is more pertinent to sales than other fields. And for some businesses, proximity to capital trumps proximity to customers.