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How To Compete With Silicon Valley

How To Compete With Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley tech companies hold the talent cards. They have the depth of talent, experience, and money. Silicon Valley companies are like the quarterbacks of small-town high schools with the looks, charisma, and chances are their daddy owns half of the town.

How can someone compete against that? The quarterback is not untouchable, contrary to popular belief, and you can do accomplish what they can’t. Silicon Valley may have a pool of talent to choose from, but that doesn’t mean you can’t compete for tech talent.

In Silicon Valley, the tech budgets are high, but there are ways in which a smaller tech company outside of the valley can compete. Compete by offering both meaningful work and financial opportunities. People are drawn to those tech companies in Silicon Valley for those opportunities.

Talent and Silicon Valley

There is more talent outside of Silicon Valley than there is inside the valley, despite popular belief. With this into account, the talent pool gets much larger. While you may be a smaller tech company, there are advantages of not being in Silicon Valley.

If you are a tech company based in northwestern Montana, one extra offer or benefit would be the attraction of hiking, nature, and close access to a national park (Glacier National Park). This isn’t the whole selling point, as people want to perform meaningful work while getting higher pay. In some areas, that’s not possible.

Tech talent is plentiful, and if meaningful work is offered, with a financial opportunity of a lower housing market, the talent has more reason to go there. Since good talent is valued, the person should be valued and recognized.

If the tech budget doesn’t allow for high pay, then show appreciation to those with high talent. This can be done by simply giving them a gift certificate or buying them lunch. Many times a good employee passes a higher paying job because they enjoy the work they do and is appreciated where they are at.

Budget and Silicon Valley

It is true that Silicon Valley is the best place for startups within the last few decades, but where they are succeeding, there is room for smaller startups. Yes, a smaller budget means a company’s pockets aren’t that deep, but it gives an opportunity for a company to offer that meaningful work mentioned before, alongside a company that offers financial opportunities with growth.

The bigger a company grows, the bigger it can grow a paycheck. This might not be the main motivating factor, but highlighting those that do good work is certainly one way to show their work means something in the grand scheme of a company. A large tech company often does not have the means to recognize the employees that make the company what it is. With a smaller budget, gifts to those that prove themselves go a long way.

An employee who does great work and is acknowledged by the boss through appreciation is less likely to leave for a better paycheck elsewhere. It is also important to congratulate those moving on to those opportunities because seeing your people succeed should be the top priority in any company.

Culture and Silicon Valley

Culture gets tossed around so often in business model conversations that it sometimes loses its impact, but this is a key component to keeping your talent. A toxic culture can make or break a company or send a good employee elsewhere. With a small company, the atmosphere can be more personal, and a deeper culture can be created.

It has been proven that a strong culture can help increase productivity by creating satisfied employees. Satisfied employees equal satisfied customers. If you are a company with a culture that awards talent and excellence, that gives a person a reason to stay and work hard on developing themselves further. A good culture can create an environment that promotes healthy development, which in turn gives the employees the comfort and confidence to speak their concerns.

If a company’s employees are allowed to be their true selves at work, are given kindness and empathy, and are visibly appreciated, then it would stand that they would want to stay. You may not be able to offer the six-figure salary at some other tech company in Silicon Valley, but you can also offer what they don’t. A closer culture that promotes meaningful values paired with meaningful work.

Geography and Tech

Silicon Valley tech competition cannot be done on the terms of Silicon Valley, or they will win every single time. What they can’t compete with is geography and what the tech talents want. They desire meaningful work and financial opportunity but will hunt out a good culture as well. Silicon Valley is not the only game in the US, as New York City and Seattle are two places that have high growth potential, but other places have potential as well.

Louisville, Kentucky, is the home of number8 and calls three locations home. A Costa Rica office, a Honduras office, and an office in Kentucky, and each one has an opportunity for self-wellness and value of life. They have a mission of employees being connected in the workplace and have made it their goal to do so for clients.

Does it matter where you set up your startup? Maybe, maybe not. What is certain is good talent will not stay if they don’t feel plugged into their work, if it is not meaningful, or they feel alone. For developing software solutions to do just that for employees, contact number8 for more information on how to get more work done.

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