Do the Most Hipster Thing Possible – Move to Des Moines | Hacker News Reader

Do the Most Hipster Thing Possible – Move to Des Moines

nationaljournal.com

98 pointsJSeymourATL83 comments

The Social Club is now lodged in an old firehouse built in 1937, and has a theater, classrooms, bars, art gallery, and adjoining restaurant [...] Mannheimer created something that would have taken the rest his life and $300 million to complete if he'd stayed in New York. It took him seven years and $12 million.

Ok, I haven't seen Mannheimer's place, but something that matches this description just opened up across the street from me in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I guarantee that the hipsters who opened it didn't have a budget greater than $12 million, and nobody was thinking about this neighborhood more than a few years ago.

In other words, while New York can be a hard place, things still happen here, artists still live here and produce amazing work, and it's hard to imagine there's a better place for performing artists to work anywhere in the US. For some reason, there has been a move recently to declare the big coastal cities impossible to live in, yet they remain great places to live, which is why so many people want to live here.

On the other hand, if you're going to start a company and have an extremely limited budget, by all means do it somewhere other than NYC or SV. Artists need an audience. A tech company just needs an internet connection.

Edit: also, I want to address this quote: "In the world of hipsters, is there anything more ironic than coming to live in Des Moines, as opposed to living in Brooklyn?"

Anyone still talking about irony with regards to hipsters clearly has no idea what the kids in Bushwick are doing. These are the most earnest people you can imagine.

A newly established startup that just needs an Internet connection maybe could be created anywhere - but a company, which at some point may want to bring in more seasoned talent as it grows, is probably better off near the coastal areas, with a few exceptions.

That view is still too limited in my opinion. There are massive companies coast to coast in the USA, and they seem to have no problem finding talent (to the extent that of course they do - who doesn't? - but it's survivable). Dallas for example has a large concentration of Fortune 500 companies, which is about as "grown" as you can get.

There are many "enterprise" programmers who don't know how to program. These are not the people who are going to scale your startup. If you think they are, you're going to probably go out of business finding out the cost of B and C players.

Well, we do have some top-notch coders and engineers in the Dallas area, just as in any major metropolitan area... they're not all in the Valley you know.

"Bring in seasoned talent.." All seasoned talent needs is an Internet connection. A successful company doesn't require a ping pong table. Basecamp makes more money each year than most startups ever will and they're entirely remote. I love in the south of France and work just fine without having to go to company HQ in New York. The only folks working in the office are just the sales guys and even they could do their work just fine from home if they were so inclined. Location is only relevant if you need an address to impress a particularly unelightened investor. The myth that the talent is only in San Fran or NYC is getting played out. I have several devs that work for me that live in Portland, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Belgrade-- folks all over the place and they're "top tier" talent. In fact I would argue that it's harder to recruit talent in NYC and San Fran.. Real wages are comparatively lower than pretty much anywhere else in the country and you're competing against places like Google, Twitter, Apple. Why would a Dev come work for your (figuratively) rinky-dink startup for likely less money and likely worthless equity (statistically speaking) when they could walk down the street and work for any number of successful companies? However if I lived in a place like Grand Rapids, your startup might be an attractive choice.. And it would even save you money: you can pay the same salary but you'd pay less for their health insurance and you could save on the extra office space. You could also save on the silliness like a "beer fridge" or whatever else is the latest trend in an attempt to be a great place to work.

My criteria for a great place to work: competent product managers, an interesting product, a good salary, equity that isn't insulting, proper vacation time and other folks working with me that value high quality code. That's pretty much it. Your awesome office space is a waste of money and doesn't attract "good" developers -- a good dev is not going to sign up with you because of office space; those other elements must be there. Anyone that places a value of the office space over the value of those other things is an idiot. When I did work in an office in New York, I enjoyed my time the most with a company that had no windows, was in a cramped, shared space with barely enough room for a laptop, let alone a massive desk for my 27" monitor much more than the hip place with great coffee, a ping ping table and catered lunches because of the work we were doing and the people I had to work with.

Talent should be location irrelevant for an Internet company. Actually, unless you have a warehouse or must meet customers in person or sell retail (or build a physical product,) the entire concept of an "office" is about as relevant as a VCR.

I have to agree 100%. I ran a company started in 1994 which was entirely based online, no office, contractors all over the world. Even then, other then an occasional "Huh. Really? You can do that?" nobody really cared that we did not have office space. Having said that you do have to have a physical mailing address, and it should not be your home. The govenment generally has a hard time dealing with a lack of physical presence, and it's useful to have somewhere to store mail packages until you are ready to pick them up. Get a business center mail drop. I think I paid about $20 per month for 10 years.

Really? The cost of real estate in Bushwick has gone through the roof over the last 10 yeas and particularly in the last 5. When I moved to Bushwick 6 years ago my the rent for my 3 bedroom apartment was 1800, there were other options in that range, as well as similarly priced apartments in Crown Heights. Look at the prices today and the rents in those areas have almost doubled. The New York real estate market is insane right now and people are already investing in areas like East New York hoping that the gentrification and rising rents keep moving eastward. Commercial rent is less expensive than residential and people do great things in NYC but a giant space in Bushwick is going to be very expensive right now and you're going to have to be good at turning a profit to keep the lights on.

That said I'm really curious what just opened up in Bushwick that matches the description of the social club in the article.

Having moved from Des Moines to San Francisco, I can say with confidence that Iowa has its upsides. A flourishing community of startup founders, hilariously low rents (my perfectly nice studio ran for < $500/mo.), a culture of honesty and selflessness, and - shockingly - no lack of things to do. Even the music scene isn't half bad.

Lack of diversity is a serious problem; most people in Des Moines were born there. From a startup perspective, there's also not much of an investor ecosystem, and some companies struggle to find local funding. It's a smaller and more homogenous city, with everything that entails.

It is interesting that not more satellite areas around SF are rising centres of startups. Even Sacramento, which is quite near, does not seem to much activity. Anyone know why?

This is just a guess, but perhaps there is a perception that, being so close, why not just move the rest of the way to SF?

While being so far that travel to SF is really inconvenient. Sacramento is not really being compared as "near enough to SF to count", but rather "A city in the US that is not SF", and thus is being compared against every other city that falls into that category. Being close enough that an hour and a half drive (assuming no traffic) and the expensive parking necessary to visit SF may be a point in its favor, but I'd imagine not a tremendous one.

Ever looked at the cost difference between Sacramento and San Fran?

That's your reason.

It's more interesting that physical location matters at all in 2014.

I don't think we, as humans, will ever work fully remotely. I know companies like 37signals and others have been successful in this working model, but personally, I must have some human contact with the person I have been working with. I would imagine that the majority of humans would also have the same attitude.

Humans are social creatures and we have an emotional need to connect. I can clearly see this as I contrast this human need when I compare my wife's needs and my needs. I am borderline Asperger's and my need to connect is not as high as that of my wife. Although this observation is in a family environment, I don't think it is too dissimilar in an office environment.

So from the perspective of connection, physical location matters.

Also, random spontaneous interactions happen more when there are more 'particles' bouncing around. That's part of the point of this book:

http://davids-book-reviews.blogspot.it/2012/10/the-new-geogr...

That said, I did my time in the Bay Area, got out, and I'm happy to see people doing more in all kinds of places.

I know everyone can boast their own city but I have found Sacramento to be the perfect combination of low cost, central location, and atmosphere. Within 2 miles from downtown, a 1 bedroom flat for $800 in a bike friendly midtown.

I've been a part of the startup community for the past few years and have witnessed the buzz. With large campuses for Intel, HP, Oracle in the suburb areas there is a large pool of talent that I grew up around and occupy the area. Recruiters and VC make regular appearances at collaborative work spaces and maker labs in the area.

Honestly, when I see these articles I'm a bit baffled. why would you move to Reno to save a couple hundred a month on rent?

> most people in Des Moines were born there

The opening bit of this book talks about that: http://www.billbryson.co.uk/index.php/the-lost-continent/#ex... (click on extract to read)

"I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to. When you come from Des Moines you either accept the fact without question and settle down with a local girl named Bobbi and get a job at the Firestone factory and live there for ever and ever, or you spend your adolescence moaning at length about what a dump it is and how you can’t wait to get out, and then you settle down with a local girl named Bobbi and get a job at the Firestone factory and live there for ever and ever."

It's great that this has changed in the 25 years since he wrote this, and even longer since he lived it.

I live in Des Moines. I choose to. There are many people intent on improving Des Moines. It's easy to get in touch with the people that have the political and economic ability to drive that change. Zach is an example of this.

Bryson actually has a number of kind things to say about Iowa; that's the first bit of the book, and it's probably written to hook you. I think overall it's a pretty funny and interesting read about his travels throughout the US, although yes, it's been in print a while. As a native of Oregon, I'm still a bit bitter that he skipped the Pacific Northwest entirely, though.

I get that. However, I was responding the quote that has been used multiple times to describe Des Moines, which is from an experience that ended before I was born.

Almost everyone commenting here falls into two camps: A) "NYC/SF is great" and B) "I've been to Des Moines, it's great."

But nobody here really seems to be comparing the two. If I live in SF/NYC and I want to move to Des Moines, what are the upsides? What are the downsides? Sure, Des Moines is a nice place with fun stuff -- but so are a hundred other cities in the US. What makes Des Moines different or a good enough draw to make me leave SF?

Lower rent? I can get that almost anywhere else. Hipsters? There are plenty of those here. Big social clubs, nice restaurants, a music scene? I have that here, too. Bike-friendly? So is the Bay Area (downtown SF notwithstanding) Nice weather most of the year? Same as the Bay Area.

What's the big draw to Des Moines? Or Portland? Or Austin? Why would I pick any of those places over SF or NYC or anywhere else?

I don't think it's enough to say "NYC/SF is expensive. You should move to Des Moines, because we're great." I think you have to really make a case that life in Des Moines is going to be better than where you live now, or else I have no reason to uproot my life and move, yeah?

(Genuinely curious -- I'm not gonna stay in SF forever, but I have no idea where I'd want to go next.)

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the quality of the public schools. If you're thinking of starting a family that could be a compelling point. Iowa is widely considered to have some of the best public schools in the country.

There is no one silver bullet but I can tell you why I choose to live in Des Moines.

For me it is about the community. I like building things. Here, in addition to building my own startup, I am part of a group of people working to build a great ecosystem. It's exhilarating and inspiring to be surrounded by other people who are working together to make Iowa a great place to live. Being a part of shaping that nascent identity is a good feeling.

That's, of course, not the only reason to live in Des Moines. The reasons, priorities, and motivations are different for everyone. I've heard everything from people moving here to raise a family (low crime, great public schools) to cost of living (paired with the low unemployment the standard of living way more than averages out), to the hundreds of miles of public bike trails, to the growing music and arts communities, etc.

But really, it is hard to know whether Des Moines is the right place for you since I don't know you. It may not be, but I love it here.

It is also always interesting to read outside perspectives. David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) recently wrote about Des Moines and I think it captured a lot of the small "quality of life" details that are hard to pin down without experiencing them from a fresh perspective. http://davidbyrne.com/des-moines

I might be able to help here. I'm a native Iowan. I've lived all over that state. I've also lived years in downtown Chicago and Austin. I've also lived overseas in France. I've been to the bay area, NYC, Miami, pretty much everywhere among other hot spots, but haven't lived in those places.

I'm going to be honest, I know DSM well and if it were so great I'd be there now. I'm not sold on the growing hype train about DSM, and the cheap cost of living is an excuse for employers to give you lower wages. It's a nice, progressive city though.

So yes, the best part about DSM is that it is a nice city, albeit a bit small. Part of the influx of people are younger Iowans gathering there as the other cities/towns have gone bust.

As an individual with gainful employment, stay where you are unless you're made an offer in DSM. I can't honestly recommend anyone pack up and make the move without. A lot of employees run around that city with the same few insurance companies on their resumes. It's just a very small market.

The short answer to your question IMO is that in the 'midwest revival' cities group, it's one of the best choices. It's better for a founder than it is as an employee though.

I'm also looking to put down some roots at this point, Seattle, Chicago and maybe Portland are in the running. If you're from the west coast I personally would pick Seattle.

For myself, I'm likely returning to Chicago to put down roots and buy a home, as a robust public transportation system means more to me than any other metric. Spending half my life in traffic isn't something I'm willing to accept.

I think you're spot on though with questioning the hype.

Second BuckRoger's post, in general. I'm a native rural Iowan, who lived in Des Moines (DSM) part of my career, and am there often for family purposes.

My recommendation is simple:

Unless you are a CPA, actuary, lawyer or some other bureaucrat, don't move to DSM. In fact, I've advised many people to move away.

The reasons are simple.

While there are both tech and brick/mortar startups in DSM, the scene isn't huge and it does have life-span issues. Startup City closed up shop this fall after 2-3 years. Gravitate--the co-working spot mentioned in the article--is the latest in a series of attempted co-working spots over the past several years.

Regular employment options are a huge concern too. DSM is government, insurance, mortgages and banking, with a handful of ag and convenience-store companies thrown in the mix. The common refrain I hear from old colleagues and family working for insurance/financial services companies is how unsatisfied/miserable they are, and how they wish there was someplace better to go.

The marketing, advertising and publishing companies shouldn't be forgotten either. (Hint: re-read that last sentence in context of the article.)

Another huge thing people don't often consider is airfare costs. DSM International traditionally has had very high airfares--so high, many companies have sent their employees to Omaha or Kansas City to catch flights, because it's more cost effective--even with mileage and hotel bills.

Ignore the hype. There are much better places to live and work than Des Moines. I now live and have my own business in the Minneapolis/St. Paul (Twin Cities) metro, and couldn't be happier. For everything the article states about Des Moines, MSP is several orders of magnitude better.

well hurry up and figure it out and move please.

If you're interested in alt-startup US cities, here's my list of places I would be interested in if I were a founder or early employee:

1. Boulder 2. Austin 3. Omaha 4. Des Moines 5. Reno (the real sleeper, but just look at the low, low business tax rate and proximity to SF).

The above list isn't meant to be chiseled into stone—it's just a thought experiment on my part and I'm interested in what others think the pros/cons of these towns would be. The obvious con would be the lack of proximity to investor and startup networks and that ecosystem.

I think Minneapolis should be on that list. I don't live there anymore, having moved to the SFBA.

I don't live in an urban area, but if I did I think it would be MPLS.

A friend of mine just moved to Minneapolis from the DC area. Incidentally, we were talking about this just yesterday and he told me he was surprised at how good the public spaces are there: lots of nice parks, walking/biking paths, urban infrastructure, bookstores, cafes, libraries, &c.

Downside is the winter, but I guess that's what Thinsulate was invented for.

Des Moines gets similar comments, and we have less snow. I went up to Minneapolis for a conference last summer. They had 2-3 feet of snow on the ground. I haven't seen more than 6" in central Iowa in a very long time.

Oh, and central Iowa has over 600 miles of bicycle trail.

Tell me more about the bicycle trail in Iowa. I've never heard about that.

http://www.cyclecentraliowa.com

That's what Thinsulate was invented for, and in Minnesota. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Thinsulate_Insul...

I hear Austin is already getting tough: high rents forcing out exactly what made it cool in the first place.

I personally think the value of being in a hot well known startup city is overrated. My startup is in DC and we're doing fine.

We actually visited Austin to move there, and found the rents/home pricing so much, that we would have to live in a distant cookie cutter home community. We went with Boston, because of bigger job market. Better public transportation and crappier weather (j/k).

Yeah Austin rents are pretty high in the main area of the city now. You can get decent places/rates a little farther out, but the boom has risen rent prices considerably in the last 5 years. Still much, much less than SF/NYC though.

No PDX? Half the cost of SF or the Valley, located conveniently between SF and Seattle.

Yeah, I'd be interested in folks' thoughts on Portland/Seattle. Considering a move up the west coast from SF.

Do it! Move now.

Amazing things to eat and drink, small and friendly, extremely walkable and bikeable, verdant and fresh, and is extremely close (30 min) to beautiful gorges, mountains, forests, and coastlines. You can get a 1br for $800, or a really fancy studio for $1k, or pay $500 with some roommates.

I would add Madison and Minneapolis to this list.

Curious why you'd pick Omaha over Des Moines. There are some neat areas like Benson, but most of it is suburban wasteland in my experience. It's much easier to avoid those parts of the Des Moines area.

Reno/Tahoe area resident here. Oh yeah, +1 for Reno :-)

While there has long been a surprisingly sizable population of engineering professionals living in and working OUT of the area, over the last few years an enthusiastic startup business culture has emerged.

There are multiple incubator / co-working facilities, a convenient airport, beautiful environment and as you note, a favorable tax structure.

Tesla, along with the gaming and defense industries, should really be just anchor businesses in a much deeper technology ecosystem. Reno very much has this potential.

As you say, a real sleeper.

[edit: mobile-typo]

The quality of life in Boulder is amazing but I don't think it is sustainable unless you are wealthy. I have lived here off and on since the 90s. In the past couple of years it has changed dramatically. The rent is expensive, the picturesque views from within the city will be changing due to new construction (I have lost 25% of the views on my deck to construction in one year) and city council's current goal is revenue, not quality of life. BBC did a segment on Boulder's affordable housing market. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29240704 I'd recommend Denver before Boulder.

Where does Detroit factor into your list? I hear such mixed things?

I travel from Chicago to Des Moines several times a year to visit my parents, and have seen much of what the city has to offer. Restaurants, music, culture are all fantastic. The local craft beer scene is growing like crazy, and most taprooms have prime spots along popular bike trails throughout the city. I'd consider a fantastic city for biking. And between Ragbrai and the HyVee Tri every year I'm reminded of how awesome the bike scene is there.

The tech scene is like many other mid-sized cities in the Midwest: small, growing, but not ever close to the major tech hubs. If you're going to bootstrap a company and want to have a low cost of living it's not a horrible place to do so. Dwolla strikes me as a bit of an anomaly in the city, as most of Des Moines is insurance companies and agribusiness (which is no joke, especially if you like embedded programming and GPS).

You absolutely have to own a car, and in the past few years something resembling bad traffic has started to appear as the sprawl north and west of the city accelerates.

Des Moines is basically a better alternative to the other mid-sized cities like St. Louis, Indy, Columbus, Milwaukee, etc.

Man, I've done RAGBRAI twice, and that is some great fun. I have the century patch from my second go on my messenger bag, and I get people stopping me to chat about RAGBRAI whenever someone recognizes it.

>> ... in the process of building a new Des Moines, a tech hub in Silicon Prairie...

Every story that comes out about every city has a statement like this. We've had different cities across the country trying to become "the Silicon Valley of XYZ" for the last 15-20 years. Have any of them done it? Considering we're still calling the effort "the Silicon Valley of blah blah blah", I think not.

I used to live in Philadelphia. I now live in Washington D.C. I've spent a lot of time in Baltimore. I wouldn't want any of these places to change from what they are to the "Silicon Valley of the East Coast". They should stay Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Valley is awesome. I've personally never been there. I hope it has its own culture that the people there are proud of and it's not trying to become "The NYC of California" or something like that. My complaint is that we get bludgeoned over the head with popular press talking about "diversity is good, we need to increase diversity", but it misses the biggest chunks of it when it's right in their face. There is still a lot of good left in local culture.

What's silliest is that these nicknames make no sense. Why call your town "Silicon __________" to refer to a scene where people are making iPhone apps? Where's the Silicon?

Agree 100%, and also the Silicon <Tag> theme is getting tired.

At least here in London they're now calling the Old Street tech hub 'Tech City' instead of 'Silicon Roundabout'.

It always was, officially. It's just that everyone else ignored that and called it "Silicon Roundabout" regardless.

As old street used to be a major tech centre for BT (207 and 211) we used to call it the one with the really rubbish canteen.

It can also be the kiss of death. Look what's happened to Scotland's "Silicon" Glen [0].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Glen

I agree, I think a lot there are a lot of really interesting places in the US that are interesting because of their own character, and not the potential to become the "next" SV or Brooklyn or whatever. I'd like to see more discovery and celebration of the rich culture that most American towns have.

It seems like it's already started a bit (see urban revival happening in some of the rust belt cities), but I think there's even more untapped value in a lot of our cities.

It's great to see people are starting to realize that there are opportunities inland in America, especially if you are bootstrapping and want some extra breathing room cost wise.

I spent most of my time in America in NYC and SF (originally from Canada), but recently moved out to Dallas for much of the same reasons. Had started a company so I wasn't tied to SF for work anymore and the cost of living in Dallas where housing was 10x cheaper tempted me to take a risk and come out here, and I have no regrets. More space, lots of things to do tech wise and arts and culture wise, especially if you seek it out and are intentional about it.

As a Brit, pretty much all I know of Des Moines is what I've learned from Bill Bryson, the first line of his book "Travels in Small-Town America" is "I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to."

I do remember that line - Bill Bryson is gold. The other fact I remember is that Slipknot originated there.

As a fellow Brit, all I know Slipknot came from Des Moines. But if it's good enough for the 'knot...

Here's a couple views that aren't as stale as one written 25 years ago about a childhood that ended 42 years ago.

- http://davidbyrne.com/des-moines - http://altonbrown.com/ab-road-eats-des-moines/ -

So bizarre to read about my hometown like this. My friends and I growing up there in the '80s used to call it "Dead Minds Iowa". I've noticed some moving back, but for the most part a huge portion of my generation left Des Moines as soon as we could.

I am from Chicago, but went to school at Grinnell. We used to drive alternately to Des Moines or Iowa City on weekends for something different. I preferred Iowa City, but Des Moines was great too.

Anyway, my point is that the state of Iowa is this beautiful, underrated and amazing place. I have lived in a lot of places since graduating and have lived abroad for the past several years now. But, if I ever did go back State-side, I would probably try to find a job in either Iowa City or Des Moines. They are both lovely cities, for all of the reasons mentioned in this video.

I'm from Des Moines (now in SF); it has really matured in the last twenty years. It's a great place to live: inexpensive, nice people, plenty of space, definitely worth overlooking the stereotypes. Weather? You got it: feet of snow in the winter, hot in the summer, perfect in the fall and spring.

Best men's (and junior) roller derby team in the world.

I think Lincoln, NE is far more hipster than Des Moines.

I thought Detroit was the hip place to move to.

If looking for a city sized similarly to Des Moines, check out Grand Rapids, MI. Lots of great art, craft brews (Founders Brewing anyone?), and a small startup scene. You're also a 30 minute drive to Lake Michigan in the summer, which is nice when its warm enough to experience it :)

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=grand+rapids%2C+mi+vs+d...

Detroit has basically no city services, so important things like police and emergency services fall by the wayside.

I currently live in Cedar Rapids, which is largely referred to as the "corridor" area; the region joining the "separate" cities of Iowa City, Coralville, Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha which are all sort of converging into one larger metro area as population and grow increases. We are about a 2 hour drive from Des Moines and there is a lot of collaboration happening across the state outside of just Des Moines.

There is huge growth happening in the tech sector within Iowa, but also in other areas, education, medical, insurance, agri-business, being a few of the key areas.

I've seen mention on here already of RAGBRAI and the bike friendliness of Des Moines; this is more true in the Iowa City/Coralville areas, and equally true in the main Cedar Rapids districts.

Here are some things that are more interesting though; the midwest has some of the lowest in the nation, and Iowa sits at an average unemployment rate of 4.5%. In terms of diversity; it may not have been that diverse 20 years ago, but these days Iowa is ranked as the 3rd most progressive state, right behind Massachusetts and California.

We have huge incentives for technology, start-up accelerators, local tech conferences, low cost of living, local re-investment. Personally, I hate the "Silicon Prairie" term, because it means that people turn it into a us vs them sort of comparison. In terms of raw numbers, more successful start-ups are going to come out of California; or I would certainly hope so since the population of the state is in excess of 38M whereas as Iowa is just barely over 3M. However in terms of your chances of success; these days I think the odds are probably in your favor in Iowa.

I'm just some dude, and I've had beers, dinner, or just visited with CEOs of many of the tech businesses (long established & start-ups) and the thing is these are great people. They still relate to their humble beginnings and they want to give back and grow business right here. They are so approachable, and I think this is in large part due to the fact that the lines aren't as long because we are still small.

Right now I seriously have to give a shout-out to Eric Engelmann, founder of the Iowa Startup Accelerator and the CEO of Geonetric. He is an all around great guy, who has done so much for this area and continues to do so, and there are too many more around here to name.

Is it Hipster? Some yes, some no. Is it a great place to be right now? Unequivocally; Yes. But you don't have to join us; we'll continue to do just fine on our own. If you do though; you just might fall in love.

To end with; here's some links to a few things that are happening in Iowa

http://www.iowastartupaccelerator.com/

http://uipartners.uiowa.edu/deviowa

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6uYhe4TzHsCNjNWVlhDMXAwVFE... (Mapping Venture Capital In Iowa)

http://www.welchavenue.com/ (Iowa only start-up news)

http://siliconprairienews.com/ (Midwest start-up news)

> In terms of diversity; it may not have been that diverse 20 years ago

Most of that diversity is comprised of low-wage agribusiness, factory work or meat-packing labor.

"Don't try to do that because it's already been done" is a terrible attitude to have and I'm surprised they open the video with it.

Lack of diversity makes it hard for people from other cultures to live in such city. How can I live without access to Turkish food??!

I agree, I would love to see more diversity in Des Moines but I think this is more a function of size; a smaller metro can't have a community of every culture.

I have been waiting for a good Cuban place for far too long!

But it's not like there is a complete lack of diversity. There are large numbers of Vietnamese and Bosnian immigrants living in the city to name a few.

You misspelled Berlin.

The last thing that Berlin needs/wants is more hipsters from NYC. The amount of resentment by the German people for that group is pretty high. Go to a nightclub, they'll deny you entry if you don't speak German or look American.

I'm an American someone who's been called a hipster who moved from NYC to Berlin.

I walk into Berghain whenever I want. Then again, I care about the community, took the time to learn German, and have established connections in my city of residence.

If you're obnoxious, you're going to be shunned anywhere you go. Your misconceptions aren't helping Berlin or NYC.

Yet there are tons of obnoxious people who didn't. It's not a misconception. It's a reality.

Godspeed Des Moines. Godspeed.

I can understand why the city wants to reinvent itself and I admire this campaign. I'm sure the people there are nice to but its is not going to have the draw of the bigger cities. There is also an inherent risk with moving to a smaller city. Cost of of living is directly related to opportunities a certain area provides. If cost of living is lower its because it has to be for many reasons. Not to mention if you are younger and you want to learn from the best in a certain technical field you will be harder pressed to find that in Des Moines. I am not saying that there aren't great people in Des Moines but proportionately that number may be less than larger cities. Either way godspeed.

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