Why I Love Pittsburgh Startups | Hacker News Reader

Why I Love Pittsburgh Startups

centernetworks.com

28 pointssteveklabnik24 comments

Okay, I might be a bit biased. But Pittsburgh is great!

One reason for the proliferation of Pittsburgh startups are the efforts of a number of people/programs that want to see the city make a comeback. AlphaLabs is one, but IdeaFoundry and Lenore Blum's Project Olympus are two more that deserve some credit. When I started up as a CMU student 3 years ago, there was no shortage of professionals and established entrepreneurs happy to lend a helping hand; and most just wanted to see productivity return to the region.

I'm curious how this atmosphere compares to Boulder, Boston, San Francisco. Is there similar camaraderie in those cities?

Makes me proud to be a Pittsburgher. Any others here at hn?

Long time lurker ...finally signed up just to say "me too" :-)

Not a native but I attended CMU and I love the town.

Same here. I had great times at CMU, and after living in many different cities around the world (currently Berlin) I think Pittsburgh is a dormant giant for startup work.

Yep. Working at a startup company in the city right now, in fact.

I am from Pittsburgh.

This has needed to be said for a long time. I believe Pittsburgh will grow in tech prominence in the time ahead. If nothing else, it is an easy city to maintain "ramen profitability".

Saw you at the first HN meetup, but missed the subsequent ones. I work at CMU.

I'm currently in an AlphaLab company.

Not originally from Pittburgh but spent 5 years at CMU. Love the city and really hope the tech industry there takes off (more than it already has).

Not there anymore, but got my undergrad in CS at CMU.

My start-up and I will soon return to Pittsburgh, fleeing NC's recent affiliate tax legislation.

What's the scoop on entrepreneurship/tech meet-ups? the refreshPittsburgh blog seems abandoned.

There's lots of great things. First of all, we have an Open Coffee Club, there's lots of great people there. DevHouse suffered some leadership changes, but they're going strong again. My own HackPittsburgh is doing pretty well, we've got about 30ish members. refreshPittsburgh just announced on their Twitter that they're doing something towards the end of August. I didn't see it on their blog yet. Entreprenurial Thursdays is happening, too...

Refresh Pittsburgh, Dorkbot Pittsburgh, Devhouse Pgh, PodcampPgh, Etc...

I'm from Pittsburgh. Moved back 4 years ago after living in Boston for 6. Moved because I believe that Pittsburgh is a great place to raise a family. My wife is a stay at home mom and we couldn't pull this off in Boston. If you look hard enough, you'll see quite a few startups. I'm working at one now, Conviva.com

Not a native Pittsburgher, but surely proud to call myself a happy Pittsburgh transplant!

Well, close--I live in Steubenville, OH, about 40 minutes away. But I do get into meetups, etc., in Pittsburgh.

It is a great little city. (Though Boston will always be my spiritual hometown...)

Any more HN meetups planned?

I'd certainly be interested in attending one. I missed the last few.

Yup. South Hills area.

Former Pittsburgher & Proud

Yup, not a member of a startup - at least not at the moment - but a proud resident. :)

I'm also a recent pittsburgher (moved here 3 years ago). I just saw some tweets about this starting up as well (Build Guild): http://pittsburgh.buildguild.org/

I'm in Canada and, a few months ago, on a whim, we went on a road trip to Pittsburgh. Great town! Clean, friendly people, great food.. From what I saw of the general culture of the place, It would make a great startup location.

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