Appreciate the response Luke (and you creating an HN account just to reply). Having seen investment terms for early-stage startups in CA, Boston, and Pittsburgh, I can say anecdotally that the valley is far ahead in terms of simplicity and founder-friendliness.

I'm confident that Pittsburgh can become a good place for startups, but first you need to change the student mentality. Once students are more willing and likely to go work at/start startups, Pittsburgh will implicitly become a better place to found one. Until then CMU is a great source of talent, but it will be an uphill battle to convince recent grads to work for a startup and stay in Pittsburgh, especially when the valley beasts are making very enticing 6-figure offers.