You know the one thing most people forget about the valley was that HP really did well due to their government work. And in return they took that wealth and put Stanford on the map. When you look at it that way while most Americans started to become aware of silicon valley in the late 70s it had been in fact in the making since World War II. So if you want your city to be a silicon valley you need at least twenty years and a ton of hard work (and a culture of nerds) to succeed.