As the former head of Amazon's World Wide Real Estate Group, I am frequently asked, "where will HQ2 go?" While my role at Amazon did not involve office site selection (I worked on the buildings that get brown boxes to the right place) I did get to know the company well and the people making the site selection decision for HQ2. Why does Amazon need to move at all? What does Seattle lack? Seattle is not a big place, at 3.8 million people, smaller than the Detroit metro area and slightly larger than Minneapolis-St. Paul. Its growth is constrained by water and mountains, which make for spectacular views, but limit roads, and housing development. Amazon has long outgrown Seattle, accelerated by the company's reluctance to have satellite offices. Talent is limited in Seattle. The number of engineers graduating from Washington State is impressive at 1700 per year, but half the 3500 graduating near Philly and DC, and one third of the 5300 per year graduating near Ch