An Example of Bad UI
An example of Bad UI

It was summer 2004 when I moved to LA for college.
Since then I have been attending some meetups regarding application development(LAMP, RoR, etc), UX(User eXpereince), Funding events, pretty much anything to do with internet and business.

LA has been called home for many entertainment companies and some tech companies such as PriceGrabber, MySpace and Shopzilla.
There are more tech companies being founded in a rapid pace with help of events like Twiistup and Dealmaker Media.
But in my opinion, LA isn’t the best place for startup. The primary reason being not enough funding for tech startups.

Despite the fact that there isn’t enough funding for tech startups, I want to bring out one possible reason. Lack of good UX architect/designer.
I am a firm beliver of good UI/UX. Consumers are getting smarter (or spoiled?) by good UI everyday. For example, people are choosing iPhone apps by looking at UI. There are 1572991029 RSS feed application on Apple iTunes App Store and only handful good looking apps are making decent to great money.

Maybe I didn’t do my research, but the only decent sized UX consulting firm in LA is HUGE and I do not know any great UX architect for web application personally(If you happen to know one, please let me know).
I think this has some or greater impact on LA tech scene. LA needs great UI/UX designers/architects to support startups. Most startups can not afford UX consulting firm. We need more individuals! This will lead to better applications which leads to more adoptions from users.

Do you agree with my point? or not? I want to hear from you. Drop me a line.