Why there cannot be another Silicon Valley in the world ?

"It is the professional help sharing culture that makes Silicon Valley unique in the entire world and let me say it loud and clear that it cannot be replicated." These were the first few words which I heard from a mentor on the very first day of an accelerator program in San Francisco, California.

In August 2015, I attended that accelerator program with a prototype idea for a mobile app focused around nearby deals. I will come to that later on but let me share my experience first and the learning curve I went through in just over a month at the hub of IT startups in the world.

Having premises in the same building where companies like Instagram, 99 designs, taskrabbit, change.org and many others have had their initial days is itself motivational for any budding entrepreneur to start his journey into the world of startups and so was I. But as always, it is not that easy as it looks.

In the very first week, we had an informal mixing event between few VCs and the startups that had been selected into the accelerator program. It was more of a social networking event and the first one for me ever. The way the people in the valley meet each other, exchange their ideas, talk about their startups and their vision was totally exciting. They would introduce other people who are into the same domain or can collaborate in each others startups.

In my city, I would never walk to a stranger and just ask him about his or her ideas and let them know about mine. The platform and the culture to share rich ideas and have healthy discussion is missing as we have never been exposed to it. Well, many will think that since there is no podium, it is not done. But that is not the case. Its the intrinsic culture and values that people in the community share that has shaped Silicon Valley. Even if a city has all the resources, it cannot become the next Silicon Valley by just incubating lots of startups or organizing social mixer events. It is ultimately the culture and the values that a society shares help build it and evolve.

In my 1 month over there, I underwent a significant change in terms of thinking and shaping my vision. But as said above, the culture of Silicon Valley cannot be replicated, it has to be evolved and hence there cannot be another valley.

Regarding my startup, we have recently acquired seed funding from local investors in the city and shall be launching soon. I hope that I can play a pivotal role in shaping my city's startup culture.

Thanks for reading :)