Agreed. The valley is, without a doubt, an incredibly enabling place, and there will never be another.. but there's perhaps a large percentage of smart people who also see the valley as disenfranchising for whatever reason. It's not a matter of fair; life isn't fair or unfair. Entrepreneurship is always a gamble, and there are enough examples of previous entrepreneurs (including one that operated out of that other Menlo Park [1]) that did just fine and/or made the world a better place, even without the amazing support structure of the valley.

Life is choices. Some are harder than others.

See you in Austin!

1. http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/history/thomas-edison-and-men...