East Coast vs West Coast?
I've experienced some time in both East Coast circles and West Coast circles. The entrepreneur communities have had wildly different thinking in terms of growth and business development.
The mindset of being profitable (East Coast) or growth at all costs (West Coast) is one that is evolving. I think the benchmark will still be growth, but profitability will hold as much weight.
What do you think? How are you approaching your business or what mindset do you have when it comes to growth?
We use LTV:CAC ratio when it comes to assessing our business and the businesses we partner with. This is how we calculate it - http://bit.ly/2qTu9YM.
I buy into the "midwestern values" mindset: Don't buy into hype or trends. Grow slowly and fix things.
IMO, the midwest is a bootstrappers paradise. So much emphasis on the coasts about raising money and sharing how much they raised.
This is pretty similar to the southeast, actually.
I agree with you. I laugh every time I see a big raise for a company that claims to be 'revolutionary', but is really a copy of existing business with new software.
Haven't spent enough time in midwest - what cities are good hubs to visit?
I’m in Fayetteville - a little mountain college town in Northwest Arkansas where Walmart is headquartered along with a host of other smaller startups. Lots of places in the Midwest are popping up as distributed tech hubs. Here, it’s ecommerce and retail tech. Elsewhere it might be auto tech, databases, etc. Lots going on in the small towns, just have to look hard!
I'm in Chicago and can't suggest it enough. Have heard good things about Minneapolis and surprisingly Omaha. These aren't really Midwestern, but Austin and Atlanta would be good places to check too.
Chicago is great from my experience as well. I've been meaning to get to Austin.