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Comment by elbenshira | Hacker News Reader

I remember an article about how Gowalla was bringing SV talent to Austin. Heh.

This is definitely a big loss for Austin. There are still a few interesting startups in the area, but Gowalla was the one that made it a serious contender.

One "also-ran" does not a "serious contender" make. Or break.

I moved my company to Austin from NYC a year ago. Not one event have I been to where Gowalla was mentioned.

I'll second that. Gowalla was in Austin in name only. Zero presence at any events, no penetration of the startup networks. They moved to Austin from Dallas, I hear, at the behest of investors.

It's interesting how many startups are based here yet Gowalla got the huge press whenever Austin was mentioned. I wonder why this is - is it because of the Foursquare competition initially? Because they launched at SXSW and were a local company?

No clue why they got all the attention.. but @mattt has gotten involved in the community here and there. I've run into him a few times at @damon's Friday Night Hacks.

In terms of other startups, we have Other Inbox, Infochimps, WPEngine, and a number of other things that are relatively quiet. In terms of "big" players, we have Facebook, Evernote, Zynga, some of Sony's game dev (DC Universe Online started here), and Ebay/Paypal is moving in. OpsCode and Mozilla both have lead evangelists here too.

And there are probably dozens of things I'm missing..

Disclosure: I'm a Developer Evangelist for Twilio and based in Austin.

What company and where in Austin? (There's no info in your profile or comment history). I'm always looking to meet local entrepreneurs.

Evernote just moved in. We also have Facebook and Google offices.

Infochimps, Indeed, HomeAway, Demand Media, and OtherInbox top my list of nationally-known startups in Austin. Am I missing any?

Outside of the startup world: Apple, IBM, Dell and AMD have major campuses in Austin.

I grew up in Austin and live in NYC. I love seeing Austin companies make waves, but I feel like the startup scene there is still in its early stages.

BazaarVoice and WhaleShark Media are another two that come to mind.

Ebay/Paypal are investing big time in area too. I've chatted with a few of their recruiters to help.

Mutual Mobile too: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/28/most-promising-companies...

How is this a big loss for Austin?

Gowalla isn't involved in the community.

they are/were involved in the rails community

No, the individual developers from Gowalla were involved in the Rails community. Gowalla, as a company, was not.

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