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How to have a superstar career outside a superstar city

2024-11-22

Flo’s tweet is my favorite scissor statement of 2024. I felt the sharp edge immediately. I’ve had a career in tech and I like to think of myself as ambitious… and yet when faced with the decision about where to live, we chose proximity to family over proximity to opportunity. At least I can comfort myself that I don’t lack judgement.

Flo’s follow up tweet puts the issue less divisively:

where you live is the single most important career decision you'll make. You should make it with your eyes wide open

No matter what you think about living in the Bay Area, this is almost definitely true. But what if, either by choice or constraint, you find yourself outside a superstar city, but still want to have an ambitious career? What should you do then?

Here is my advice:

Attitude

Keep your ambitions high. Almost every project benefits from considering how to make it 10x more ambitious; even if you don’t take that path, you’ll benefit from the thought exercise.

One of the secrets of the Bay Area is the expectation that you can do something that changes the world. Merely inviting people to do great work increases the likelihood that they will do it, so make a practice of inviting yourself to do it.

Notice that impactful work can happen from anywhere. Consider that Nike, perhaps the world’s most iconic fashion company, is headquartered in Oregon. Ben Thompson, maybe the most influential writer in tech, lives in Taipei. Mr. Beast might be the world’s most popular entertainer and he lives in Eastern North Carolina. All of these are existence proof that geography isn’t destiny. Great work is never the default path so don’t waste your time worrying about what you’re missing out on.

Strategy

Choose your projects wisely. Some projects benefit more from network knowledge than others. As an example, there are going to be a whole set of business ideas that fall out of what people at frontier AI labs understand that will be tough if not impossible to access from outside those networks. That’s fine! There are many problems worth solving. When you’re choosing your work, assess the network tax you’re paying and steer towards ones where this is lower where you can. Keep the ambition high!

Every disadvantage has its advantage. Being outside the center gives you an outsider’s perspective; use it. Extending the AI example, there are going to be applications of AI that won’t be visible to those inside the Bay Area bubble because they solve problems people inside the bubble don’t see. Enjoy being outside the groupthink that leads to Uber for dog walkers.

Be a big fish in a small pond. Most cities, towns, and regions, want to be more like superstar cities and are looking for companies or organizations of their own they can boost. You should be the one they’re boosting! Tobi Lütke, founder of Shopify, has talked about how he was able to make Shopify into a regional talent magnet. Duolingo does this in Pittsburgh. Startups in the Bay Area have to compete with OpenAI, Google, and Meta for talent, but you can be the best possible choice in your own backyard.

Network building

Plan regular trips to the city most connected with your industry and work. Focus those trips on time spent with people as much as you can. Keep your laptop closed. Use your trip as an excuse to bring people together. Attending the right conference does this as well.

Join distributed networks. Some of these are selective (Emergent Ventures, Supra) and others are generally open (StartUp CPG). Use these as a way to meet people and make the opportunity to see them in person if you can.

Learn to build relationships remotely. Building rapport with people that you mostly know from online is different than how you would do it in person. Be more intentional about reaching out, checking in, making up inside jokes. Emojis and memes are your friend.

Set up virtual coffees. If you write a thoughtful note about a problem or topic your target is interested in and if you seem thoughtful and interesting, most people will be willing to set up a virtual meeting with you. The time demand on a virtual coffee is almost always less than an in person one.

Always be posting. Having an online presence will be more important for you than it will be for others. Practice this and use it as a magnet for your work.

There are lots of ways to do great work with focus, intentionality, and creativity. Don’t let your location stop you.

Have anything I missed? Send me an email jdilla.xyz@gmail.com. I’d love to hear it.