In the way that really only an online discussion can, the debate over which
place is better, Seattle or Silicon Valley, has spun into a gloves-are-off,
let's-take-this-outside kind of brawl.

It got kicked off with a brief New
York Times article about Seattle becoming the next Silicon Valley. Shortly
after, Seattle-based Redfin's CEO Glenn Kelman wrote
a blog post about his experiences with startups in both locations. It was
met with a harsh
response from Michael Arrington, who has worked at a number of startups,
on TechCrunch. And from there, the slugfest was on.

Silicon Valley folk bristled at the suggestion that the valley might not be
"the" place to find the brightest minds and the deepest pockets, and
they jeered at Seattlites for being more interested in snowboarding and kayaking
than work. Seattlites rebutted that they have it all: exciting careers in hot
startups and evenings skiing in the nearby mountains.

The reality, venture capitalists and startups say, is that Silicon Valley undoubtedly
has far more money to be had, as well as more entrepreneurial computer scientists.
But Seattle has a growing amount of cash and a fair amount of talent.

"Seattle has arrived in the big leagues," said Scott Darling, a general
partner at Frazier Technology Ventures in Seattle. "We're not Silicon Valley,
nobody is, but we're playing for real." Darling lived in Silicon Valley
from the mid-1970s to 1990, when Andy Grove, one of Intel's founders, asked
him to move to the Northwest to continue working for Intel. Darling said Washington
state is now tied with Texas for third place in terms of VC money, behind Silicon
Valley and Boston.

The recent boom in Seattle could be partly due to Microsoft's decreasing stature
as a cutting-edge technology leader, at least according to one theory from an
investor. Silicon Valley and Boston both boomed after a great company began
to slow down -- in the Valley, it was Fairchild, and in Boston, Digital Equipment
-- leading bright minds to leave and start their own businesses, said Jeff Schrock,
a partner at Monster Venture Partners in Seattle, who used to work for Yahoo
in California.

"I think we're at an interesting stage in Seattle with Microsoft becoming
more of a slow and steady growth company," he said. "For the first
time, there are lots of people coming out of Microsoft looking for entrepreneurial
opportunities."

Others agree that Microsoft's historical success is to blame for the lack of
a more vibrant startup community until recently. "I think it's shocking
how few companies have really come out of Microsoft," Kelman said. By comparison,

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