Instead of expanding at its New Jersey headquarters, Legend Biotech opened its new R&D center in Philadelphia. This strategic move aims to attract specialized scientific talent by deliberately locating in a key innovation hub for cell therapy, demonstrating a "go to the talent" growth strategy.

In a venture climate dominated by tech, Simple Mills struggled to attract institutional investors. The founder succeeded by focusing on angel investors, who were more open to a consumer brand and funded her first three rounds, demonstrating their crucial role for non-tech startups.

Instead of competing in saturated New York, David Rubenstein founded Carlyle in Washington D.C. He leveraged the location by specializing in government-affected industries like aerospace, creating a unique expertise that Wall Street couldn't easily replicate. This strategy turned a perceived geographic disadvantage into a powerful, defensible market niche.

Fintech giant Ramp attributes its early hiring success to building in New York City. Unlike the hyper-competitive, short-tenure culture of Silicon Valley at the time, NYC offered a pool of talented engineers seeking long-term roles. This talent arbitrage allowed Ramp to build a stable, high-quality team and "punch way above its weight."

Despite YC's push to stay in San Francisco, Hera's founders are returning to Berlin. They believe they can hire top AI talent more affordably and with less competition than in the Bay Area. Since their product is global and consumer-facing, an SF presence isn't critical for customer acquisition.

The company leverages its remote structure by hiring strategically. A Spanish team is located near suppliers for better sourcing and relationships, while a British team focuses on the consumer market. This intentional geographic distribution optimizes both supply chain and marketing efforts.

Instead of creating a tech sector from scratch, the most effective path is to identify and invest in tech niches adjacent to a city's existing industries (e.g., Energy Tech for an oil town). This leverages existing talent, infrastructure, and supply chains, making the transition more natural and sustainable.

Beyond a supportive ecosystem, CDR Life's CEO highlights Switzerland's dense concentration of well-trained life science professionals from big pharma, biotech, and top universities as its most critical advantage. This makes it easier to hire and retain the specialized talent essential for a biotech's success.

Instead of choosing between tech hubs like Austin and San Francisco, founders can adopt a hybrid model. Spend a concentrated period (1-3 months) in a high-density talent hub like SF to build domain expertise and relationships, then apply that capital back in a lower-cost home base.