with Tesla, SpaceX, Samsung and other tech investing this heavy in Texas, when/will it surpass CA as a tech powerhouse of the future?
Housing alone is such a huge knock against CA for new companies. Even paying somebody 500k there leaves them feeling middle class when trying to raise a family.
Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but in Texas they build like crazy to support population inflows. If you drive through Austin you'll see every third or fourth house is getting torn down to be rebuilt into 2-3 houses on the same plot.
Fundamentally this just gives you a lot more runway to grow.
I don't know why anybody would start a company in SF these days, aside from VC being local and sometimes requiring it.
I have no doubt Texas will overtake CA in terms of economic output, but will take decades just due to previous inertia. Also remote work may be the true winner in the end.
I do think CA is still the place you want to be if money is no object though. Unfortunately that doesn't apply for most people. There may actually be a change in political winds that blow things back the other way though, just viewing this from today's lens.
There's been a lot of talk about Texas "turning blue" over the past few years and I wonder if these companies either moving their operations or building new plants there could be the tipping point.
- I am very much against TX's policy on this. However, how many people are affected by this policy Vs how many kids will be denied Algebra in CA now?
It is never 100% all good or bad policies in any place. It is always a mix. Rational people chose what's best for them and their loved ones overall.
I'm not sure these two things are meaningfully related.
> It is never 100% all good or bad policies in any place.
This argument works for about any systemic harm one can think of.
Also, that was just a single example. If you want to stick to education, Texas lawmakers have also been trying to push a book ban for public schools just this past month.
There's also a bill targeting the concept of critical race theory that would ban curriculum where “an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s race or sex.”
This is significantly different from pros/cons like high taxes... there's a fairly strong current of anti-intellectualism across Texan politics.
Abortion at the state level is not something I would even consider in my list of priorities when choosing where to live when you can just drive to another state for a once in a lifetime event if you ever actually needed one. Public school systems are a whole other level though as your kids will deal with that daily.
I mean, I get that some folks are into that but still.
As far as VC money goes, Texas has a ways to go.
Also California recently tried to pass a horrendous Prop 16 to enable outright race and gender discrimination in admission process. Luckily it didn't pass, but the politicians who supported it (Newsom, Harris) are still here to do damage.