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1) Although there are many successful venture capitalists in Silicon Valley who were Harvard undergrads or business students, the above quote is a big exaggeration.
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<p>I hardly see how it is a 'big exaggeration'. Like I said, the modern venture capital industry really is generally credited to be founded by Georges Doriot, who was a Harvard MBA. The first venture-backed startup (Fairchild) really was funded by Venrock, which was led by Laurence Rockefeller, also a former Harvard student. Many of the top current Silicon Valley VC's did in fact come from Harvard. Hence, I think it is an entirely fair statement to say that Silicon Valley VC is still largely run by Harvard. That is not to say that Stanford doesn't have a large role as well. But denying the role of Harvard would just be unfair. </p>
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2) In terms of where to settle, it's true that people can move anywhere they want. Having said that, there is a significant amount of intertia -- i.e. people are far more likely to stay where they've met friends, gotten job opportunities, met their spouse who is tied down by a job, etc. For those reasons among others, students in Boston are proportionately more likely to stay in Boston, students in NorCal are more likely to stay there, etc. Like you, I know many Harvard grads who moved to the Bay Area after graduation -- although many of them were originally from the Bay Area (as in the example you gave)...
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<p>No doubt, inertia exists. But I think you weigh the advantages of location too much. Let's face it. The overwhelming majority of all the people in Northern California are not going to be tech entrepreneurs, or even working in technical jobs. Hence it doesn't really make all that much difference to them that Silicon Valley is such a tech mecca. They could just as easily be working somewhere else in the country. Those people who happen to be highly motivated to want to get involved in the tech-startup climate are going to be the ones who are highly motivated to move. </p>
<p>As a parallel analogy, the vast majority of people in Los Angeles are not trying to become movie actors, and do not have jobs that have anything to do with the movie industry. But of the people who are highly motivated to want to be actors, no matter where they are, they are highly likely to move to LA. </p>
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Perhaps you're too daft to discern that what's futile is trying to find the difference in quality between two superb universities.
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<p>Is that an insult? Maybe you'd like to review the posting rules of CC, lest you get banned. </p>
<p>Look, I said it before, I'll say it again. If you think a debate is pointless, then, fair enough, don't participate. But don't go around telling other people who want to participate that it's pointless. It's clearly not pointless * to them *. Maybe * to you * it's pointless. But you're not them. </p>
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Er, to tell you that debating it is pointless?
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<p>Again, I obviously think this is an interesting topic, otherwise I wouldn't be posting about it. You have your opinions, and I have mine.</p>
<p>But go ahead, keep insulting me, and see what happens.</p>