As an entrepreneur who's never lived in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Boston or anywhere else like that, I've often wondered if it really matters where you're located. After all, it's the Internet right? You can do anything from anywhere. Why does it matter if you live in Topeka or Palo Alto?

This is a question I've often struggled with. I've had friends pick up and move to San Francisco and find success raising capital and finding the right team. I also say I haven't done too bad by myself without VC, so why move? My thoughts on this are evolving somewhat though.

While doing some surfing, I stumbled upon this article from Paul Graham of YCombinator explaining why people should move to Silicon Valley. He makes some good points and essentially says Silicon Valley is the best place because they understand startups the best. Here's a quote from the article that stood out to me.

West coast investors aren't bolder because they're irresponsible cowboys, or because the good weather makes them optimistic. They're bolder because they know what they're doing. They're the skiers who ski on the diamond slopes. Boldness is the essence of venture investing. The way you get big returns is not by trying to avoid losses, but by trying to ensure you get some of the big hits. And the big hits often look risky at first.

Like Facebook. Facebook was started in Boston. Boston VCs had the first shot at them. But they said no, so Facebook moved to Silicon Valley and raised money there. The partner who turned them down now says that "may turn out to have been a mistake." 

He's obviously right that Facebook could have easily started in Boston, but the investment market and the VC's were not as bold as those in Silicon Valley. Is it possible your location really matters so much that you can go from being unfunded to one of the hottest websites in the world? I find that unbelievable, but Facebook is a great example to highlight the difference.

What do you think? Is your location helping or hurting you?