Interesting ideas but...
September 17, 2011 | 03:59 PM

I lived and worked in Silicon Valley before it was Silicon Valley. The article has good balance by listing a number of good ideas and includes the obstacles to get "Silicon Island" off the ground. The article indicates that this can all happen in "internet time" or almost overnight.

One thing to remember about Silicon Valley is that it did not happen in a short period of time. The first step was probably Hewlett and Packard in their rented garage who developed their first product in the '30's. Their first customer was Walt Disney. Overshadowed by HP were the Varian brothers who also built a good sized company in the same period of time.

It wasn't until almost 50 years later when the concept of Silicon Valley came into being. In those 50 years a lot of things had to happen. High end university engineering and MBA programs, tons of VC money, herds of techies, stuff like that.

It would be great to see a bunch of surfers with money to burn set up a technology outpost on Maui but without the schools and herds of techies it'll be a long time coming.

One question. Why would anyone want to base start ups in Wailuku or Kahului? Set them up in either Kihei or Lahaina where good housing is available and the techies can either walk or bike to work.

Mike
Lahaina