I think that the hacker news structure has its own merits in terms of randomness which makes it as close to an online hub that currently does exist. By posting something on HN you open the idea to the community, with no idea where discussion can go. As someone who isn't from a Startup hub (Ohio), this type of directed random interaction and analysis has been crucial for me in helping me to understand the startup mentality, as well as providing me with the opportunity to rapidly immerse myself with information and anlaysis of the startup movement coming directly from the horses mouth (those within the movement). The members of the physical start up hubs of the world, contribute to the online hubs, allowing those outside of these physical hubs to be a part of our first start up hub.