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For Facebook and Zuckerberg, location matters

Curt Nickisch Nov 7, 2011
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For Facebook and Zuckerberg, location matters

Curt Nickisch Nov 7, 2011
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Jeremy Hobson: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is back at Harvard today for the first time since he dropped out.

And apparently the Zuck has some regrets, as
Curt Nickisch from WBUR reports.


Curt Nickisch: Mark Zuckerberg cooked up his social networking website in his Harvard dorm room, but went on to build his company in Silicon Valley. So recently, a bunch of Valley entrepreneurs did a double take when they heard him say this:

Mark Zuckerberg: Honestly, if I were starting now, I would have just stayed in Boston.

Jason Evanish: Zuckerberg was complimenting Boston on the loyalty we have here.

That’s Jason Evanish, a 26-year-old entrepreneur in Boston, where tech workers stay with their companies longer. In Silicon Valley, software developers hop from job to job for the best offer, and that turnover makes it harder for companies to grow.

So Zuckerberg is back in Boston to recruit. His headhunting trip includes stops at Harvard and MIT.

Katie Rae: We all feel a little bit vindicated.

Katie Rae runs a tech startup accelerator here. But in some ways, she wishes Boston were more like Silicon Valley.

Rae: What’s been missing in Boston has been this massive turnover in learning opportunities.

Learning opportunities that come from moving quickly onto the next challenge, even though tech companies would rather their workers stay put.

In Boston, I’m Curt Nickisch, for Marketplace.

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