In my few visits to San Francisco, I’ve found that I cannot wrap my Texan brain around that town. Trying to really understand its startup culture with just a few visits to the city and Palo Alto is similarly folly. But I did notice the intensity that SF has. It’s not a bad way to describe the town.

That said, I think this is a pretty decent encapsulation of Austin. Austin is a slower town (slower even than Dallas) and revels in the variety of activities available to its people. The Austin tech community is more about smaller groups and individuals too. It’s not (always) about aim-for-the-stars startups or working for large companies using large technology from large vendors. It’s as much about a few people on a team or individuals hacking something out while enjoying their city, family, and friends.

Obviously, I dig that a lot.

Update: I should mention that, while it’s popular to write Austin off as a slacker town, there’s a lot of people dedicated to their work and craft here. It’s not all tacos and BBQ. The events I go to most often are frequented by people who using their evenings to learn something new or talk shop while they’re making something. That is, I think, the most important factor of a startup community: the more people who are putting their evenings into making things, the more likely those things will end up awesome and grow into a business-like organism.