Where’s the Next Silicon Valley? VC Is Betting on the Midwest
Born and raised in the midwest here, and the article has done well to cherry-pick a relatively liberal spot in an otherwise conservative state.  The same could be said of the Carolinas and the infamous research triangle park.<p>I left the midwest for the west coast because of the culture, full stop.  I was tired of my state representatives writing my sexual preference off as a disorder.  I was angry when the state decided a pharmacist could refuse to sell me birth control and I hated the legislative decree that tried to exert control over what gender got to use the bathroom or not.  In short, I did not want to live in a state where the legislature had nothing better to do than fight the culture war to win votes for the next election.  Yeah, I cant buy a house in san jose, but at least I dont have to worry about the ten commandments showing up at the DMV in stone or some toothless anti-shariah legislation burning through my tax dollars.<p>Drive 15 miles outside Columbus and it doesnt matter how many VC firm employees you have in the city, the bible thumpers win this state by a landslide of gerrymandering and arent ashamed to force their backwoods culture on you from the hinterlands.  The midwests relationship with silicon valley terminates at the facebook, google, and twitter HTTP connection for a damn good reason.