I thought this was outrageously brilliant. Thanks to Andrew Hyde for sending it to me.
For a long time I’ve ranted against naming your startup community “Silicon Whatever.” Instead, I believe every startup community already has a name. The Boulder startup community is called Boulder. The LA startup community is called LA. The Washington DC startup community is called Washington DC. The Seattle startup community is called Seattle. You get the idea.
I expect many people in the San Francisco startup community tire of being told they are in Silicon Valley, or maybe they enjoy the halo effect enough to overlook it.
Regardless, Christoph Sollich totally nails how to brand a startup community – in this case his home town of Berlin.