Can You Build a Great Tech Company From Outside Silicon Valley?

Let’s say you want to build a great tech company. Should you start by moving to Silicon Valley? Or, can you do it from right where you are, right from your own hometown?

I suggest start validating your idea and building from right where you are. Today, it is no longer necessary for ambitious entrepreneurs to be in Silicon Valley. Great tech companies, even billion dollar Unicorns, can be built from anywhere.

Today, Silicon Valley outsiders can knock over their Silicon Valley competition with proper knowledge, precise strategy. Knowledge will always win over location.

This 1 minute 34 second video proves my point. Have a look.

If you prefer to read instead of watching a video, read these two case studies.

Note that both of those businesses have become billion dollar market cap companies since these stories were captured. Neither moved to Silicon Valley.

The Montana Mogul: RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte

Bootstrapping an Online Education Company From Utah: Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard

Entrepreneurs, especially first time entrepreneurs, can learn a lot from such case studies.

We had both Greg and Aaron as guests at our roundtables. Here are the videos of those sessions:

Another thing that could help is an experienced mentor who has seen many different scenarios, a mentor — who can anticipate what can go wrong and help avert major break downs. Nowadays, such mentors could even be based in Silicon Valley and guide you virtually.

If you don’t have such a relationship, you can talk to me. You can talk to me no matter where you are based. Today, it doesn’t matter that I am based in Silicon Valley and you might be based in a small town, in the middle of nowhere, population 10,000.

What does matter is that you want to be a successful entrepreneur, and that you are willing to put in a lot of work to learn, to strategize, to execute.

Precisely. Diligently. Consistently.

Photo credit: Travis Wise/Flckr.com.