So many points to answer...<p>1. I am willing to grant that Champaign&#x2F;Urbana is not the ideal place to live for everyone; however, it affords me the best of everything I want from a community, without a lot of what I perceive as the drawbacks of places like Chicago or SV or other large metro areas. I would not live anywhere else, and I know that others feel the same way that I do; and it is fine if others disagree.<p>2. (This ought to start a firestorm of comments...) I have worked for three different companies based in SV or SF and have lots of friends still in that area. It has been my personal experience that people there are motivated by money concerns much more than they are in CU. In conversations with my friends there, they say things like, &quot;Come work at XYZ and they&#x27;ll up your salary by X&quot;; or, &quot;If you come to this startup you&#x27;ll get tons of stock options&quot;; etc. This is totally my opinion, but I believe that people in SV are so worried about money because they really can&#x27;t afford to live there unless they make a <i>lot</i> of it. And again, my opinion is that this influences people to move jobs frequently in order to get a bump in pay, a big sign-on bonus, or the hope for a big stock payout. The SV culture encourages frequent moves. I certainly cannot deny that people in CU talk about money, but when my friends here try to pull me away to another job, they often talk about the cool tech they are working on or how much they love the culture of their company, and not about the money. It is because people in Tech in CU can afford to live very well on modest salaries. (My spouse doesn&#x27;t work and we still live really well.) Again, just my opinion, but I believe that this is the real reason why people stay longer in their jobs in CU. It isn&#x27;t because they don&#x27;t have options. (I feel that I have many options, and my options seem to be increasing all the time.) It is because they are not forced to move just to afford to live.<p>3. Rome wasn&#x27;t built in a day, and anyone who has been in the community for a while can see that there have been great improvements in our startup culture over the last decade or two. And, just as Rome fell, SV will not be the center of the Tech Universe forever.<p>4. Related to comments 2 and 3, see the article: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;id&#x2F;102697372" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;id&#x2F;102697372</a><p>5. The University has done an amazing amount of good for the community, if only by being one of the major economic engines in CU, and I appreciate that. It isn&#x27;t their &quot;responsibility&quot; to build a startup community in CU. However, they have done a lot to advance it. The U of I Research Park is a great example of that.<p>6. A few people in this thread seem to be blaming UIUC for what they perceive as startup culture issues. It takes a lot of hard work from many players (individuals and organizations) to build a great startup community, so if there are failings, stop blaming others and do something about it.