Is Silicon Valley still the best place for startups? Insight Partners’ Ryan Hinkle doesn’t think so

Equity

TechCrunch

Founders, Silicon Valley, Finance, Ipo, Vc, Technology, Business News, Startups, Business, Venture Capital, News, Stock Market, Entrepreneurship, Techcrunch

4.2 • 365 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on Equity, Julie Bort sits down with Ryan Hinkle a Managing Director at Insight Partners, the giant New York-based venture capital firm that invests in tech worldwide. It has $90 billion in assets under management and just raised a new $12.5 billion fund. The pair unpack the evolving landscape of startup ecosystems. They talk about the post-pandemic shift that saw many founders moving to cities like New York or Miami only for the rise of OpenAI and Cerebral Valley and the accompanying AI boom to reignite San Francisco and Silicon Valley in general. While some founders say that they are now relocating their companies to San Francisco, Hinkle disagrees with the necessity of doing so. He concedes that the Valley offers an unmatched talent pool but argues it also comes with steep costs and retention challenges, making it far from the only viable choice for startups. Listen to the full episode to hear more about: Why startup success isn’t tied to a single location but rather to access to skilled, loyal, and affordable talent How Silicon Valley’s abundance of opportunities creates a "mercenary” hiring culture, making employee retention difficult The key differences between building in New York vs. Silicon Valley, including financial management and access to venture capital Equity will be back on Friday with our weekly news roundup, so don’t miss it! Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is presented by Baker Tilly, a top 10 accounting tax and advisory firm.
0:17.4	Hello and welcome back to Equity TechCrunch's flagship podcast about the business of startups.
0:22.7	I'm Marianne Acevedo, and this is the episode where we bring on industry experts to help us explore a trend in the tech world and dive deep.
0:30.6	It's no secret that 2024 was a breakout year for AI, but to dive deeper into the numbers, I'm handing the reins over to TechCrunch editor
0:37.7	on the venture desk, Julie Bort. Julie caught up with Ryan Hinkle, a managing directorate,
0:42.3	Insight Partners, a global venture capital and private equity firm, specializing in high-growth
0:47.2	technology and software companies. Let's give it a listen.
0:53.5	Hello, Ryan. Welcome to Equity. Super psych to be here. Can't wait to do this. Before I start asking you about your somewhat controversial opinions about New York versus the rest of the country versus Silicon Valley, can you tell me a little bit about yourself, your career? You know, I heard something sort of amazing about you that you started as an
1:11.3	intern at Insight Partners, which is a massive VC firm, like 90 billion assets under management.
1:18.3	You just raise another $12.5 billion. So tell me a little bit about your career and the key deals
1:22.7	that got you to be this high partnership level you're at. I think we're aiming for 30 minutes.
1:27.3	I could do the
1:28.2	three-hour version pretty easily, so you'll have to keep me on task on time. But the shortest version
1:32.8	I can tell, unfortunately, it still starts before I was born. And this will make sense in a second,
1:37.3	I promise, but my grandmother started a clothing store in 1969. I was not yet alive in 1969, full disclosure. By the time I was
1:46.4	conscious and aware, my grandma's store became a 15 strong chain of independent specialty retail.
1:54.0	And my dad worked there, my mom worked there, my uncles worked there. Every Sunday, family dinner
1:58.1	was really more of an operating meeting or a board meeting. And I was
2:01.0	witnessing through the eyes of the child what entrepreneurship looks like. And I also got to witness
2:06.5	what catastrophic failure looks like when big box retail encroached and ultimately choked specialty
2:12.2	retail, including the family business and identity right at the moment that I was going into paying
2:16.7	tuitions.
	...

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