The Silicon Valley in sunny California is, without a doubt, the technology and internet capitol of the world.  Many startups have venture out to the valley in hopes of becoming the next great success story, and many have succeeded in at least achieving a launch and a user base.  Others have been less lucky and have found that the valley is not a magical launchpad for any and all startups.

The hacker culture in the Silicon Valley has long made it startup mecca.  However, over the last few years tech communities have managed to spring up in some expected and other, rather unexpected, cities around the world.  ReadWriteWeb, a well-known and respected tech industry blog, has been profiling startup communities outside of the valley in a series called Nevermind the Valley.  To date, ReadWriteWeb has profiled emerging U.S. tech and web development markets in Austin, Boulder, Boston, Portland, and Los Angeles, along with a few international locations including Israel, London, and Beijing.

In their synopsis and evaluation of each community, RWW details the predominant market that startups in the geographic area are attempting to revolutionize or penetrate.  They also provide detailed information on the availability of funding and mentorship programs (i.e. TechStars, DreamIt Ventures) available to entrepreneurs who choose to locate there.  Each write-up is complete with excellent analysis and research into the communities and how they support and react to the different innovations taking place within them.

RWW has put together a great list of startup communities, and I encourage you to read and respond to their analysis with some of your own (especially if you live in or near one of the communities that they featured).  It will be interesting to see what other communities that RWW features in the future.  I make no claim to have insider knowledge, but I should think that features on NYC, Vancouver, and possibly even Philadelphia should be at least somewhere on the horizon.