This is exactly what I thought out of college. "I'm a product engineer! I can work from anywhere. I'm going to move back to my hometown and turn the rust belt economy around with a billion dollar startup!"

As it turns out, I didn't have the talent to start such a business by myself (and based on my knowledge of startup history, no one does).

And that's why this essay nails it.

In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder.

YOU may be a self motivated person, regardless of environment. But your founder may not be. Your first ten employees may not be. Your investors and vendors and strategic partners may not be.

When any of these stakeholders hang out with their friends in the rust belt, they hear depressing stories. They start to look at success like it's impossible, and they come back to work the next day less energized and less motivated.

Or maybe they've got a good circle of friends, but not an ambitious circle of friends. They love their friends, so they stay out with them a little later, sleep a little less, end up a little less productive the next day and leave work earlier to go meet them. Same thing goes for a family, but with the added responsibility.

This isn't to say that friends are bad or families will hold you back. In my experience, good friendships and a loving, functional family are better than any business success.

The point is that your environment will affect your ambitions - even if you never needed help feeling ambitious. At some point or another you'll need help for something, and if your city doesn't drive ambition in that direction, you'll have to work that much harder to motivate the help you need.