[barce]

It's still difficult to export very unique tangibles and intangibles from Silicon Valley. The intangibles: a high tolerance for risk and a high degree of insatiable curiosity unfettered by local religious and cultural customs found elsewhere. And these both fostered at the universities. Tangibles: Capital as a result of the largest growth of wealth in human history & the only port in the United States to export more items than it imports - I'm referring to the port of Oakland. The light manufacturing sector is wholly responsible for this and is always underestimated. This sector is always the first to try on Silicon Valley innovations despite such innovations being readily available on the Internet. If anything, these souls leaving are merely setting up satellite bases for Silicon Valley's continued hegemony.

[qqqwerty]

Agreed. The tech industry had a very deep and localized impact in the last 30 years, but the conditions that led to the CA boom extend well beyond tech. Broadly, the ports, agriculture, weather, culture of tolerance, universities, natural spaces, etc. all contribute to the "innovation melting pot". If you are going to start a startup, CA provides much more than just VC funding.

Tangentially, lots of folks complain about high CA taxes, but these taxes largely go towards local projects and paying local salaries (unlike Federal taxes). These projects and jobs are direct stimulus to the economy and also provide a large potential customer base to startups. This is likely playing a bigger role in the startup ecosystem than most people realize.

On a more specific and personal anecdote, the green/clean energy sector is heavily based in CA because CA was an early mover in climate change energy policy and regulation. These policies started in the 70's, and the long slow growth of the industry that they enabled may be the primary reason that the US is even remotely in a position to try and tackle climate change (still a long way to go though). It takes a certain cultural and political climate to embrace these types of things, especially when the potential return on investment is on such long timescales.