
Starting this summer, YC will be in California year-round - pg
http://ycombinator.com/ycca.html
======
staunch
Awesome news. Congratulations PG & JL!

------
johnrob
The gap between #1 (Silicon Valley) and #2 (Cambridge) just got bigger with
this news.

~~~
brk
I'm surprised it took this long. Boston area has been great for hardware
startups, but the software scene is (IMO) a far distant 2nd to California.
Have contemplated moving west a few times myself.

------
mattmaroon
That's good really. The speaker lists always seem better for the California
one, and the space is more conducive.

Out of curiosity, from what you can tell, has the economy affected the gap
between the two locales at all? Did the already timid Boston investors just
give up entirely? Or has it been pretty proportional?

~~~
pg
Hard to say, because the number of deals with Boston investors has always been
so small as to be statistically insignificant.

Boston VCs may actually be _more_ interested in YC alumni lately, but I think
that's because they only recently discovered YC.

With angels it's even harder to tell, because the Boston angel community is
even weaker than the VCs. If I recall correctly, only one YC alum has been
talking to a Boston angel lately, and he backed out of the deal in a pretty
lame way. But with only one data point it's hard to say whether it's Boston,
or the economy, or just that guy.

------
ivankirigin
Boy did I see this one coming :)

I agree this move is better for the statups. I also agree that Palo Alto is
better for kids than Cambridge. I think Arlington is slightly better than Palo
Alto though.

And let me congratulate you again on the upcoming addition. Kids are great.

~~~
sanj
I agree with Arlington being slightly better than Palo Alto. In fact, you
could say that I'm in the process of doubling down that particular gamble!
Given that my brother's raising his kid in there and I'm here, I feel like I
have a semi-informed opinion.

But I'm not sure that we'd have much luck convincing the expecting couple.

Congrats!

~~~
pgebhard
Arlington, VA? What makes that area particularly good?

~~~
gravitycop
_Arlington, VA?_

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=444217>

 _Arlington, MA_ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington,_Massachusetts>

------
parenthesis
And who is going to be pg's shadow while he's on paternity leave?

~~~
pg
I was planning to go with a five o'clock one. But Trevor can by now do a
pretty good PG imitation, I believe.

------
ChaitanyaSai
Congratulations. I am curious. Why is Palo Alto a better place to raise kids?
The weather? schools?

~~~
pg
Number 1, it's a small town-- embedded in suburbia that arrived later, but
large parts of it are much as they were before. Cambridge is too urban. If you
let your kid ride his bike in the street in front of your house, he'd last
about 10 minutes. The other option in Boston is suburbs like Lexington and
Concord, but though luxurious they have the usual suburban problems (not
walkable, deadly dull).

Number 2, the weather.

~~~
sanj
re: Number 2

Does everyone get soft when they spend time out west? I've lost half my family
to that coast and they all complain about the sort of weather that is optimal
for sledding.

Doesn't anyone else miss having seasons?

~~~
breck
I lived in Boston pretty much my whole life until September. It was 70 degrees
here in Palo Alto yesterday. I was playing basketball outside in shorts and a
tshirt. I don't miss the cold at all. Not even a bit. It's like a disease. I'm
glad I got it cured.

~~~
ojbyrne
My experience with Northern California is that it rains pretty well every day
from December to March. Not that those few days when it doesn't aren't
glorious, but people oversell the lack of winter. I think the best part of the
climate is the fact that it's not insanely hot the rest of the year.

~~~
gojomo
A raincloud must have followed you around! Even though that is the heart of
the 'rainy season', in SF, about half those days have no measurable rain, and
even those with rain are often just a few hundredths of an inch.

Here are historical records for downtown SF:

<http://ggweather.com/sf/daily.html>

(2005-2006 was especially rainy; was that when you set your 'norm'?)

~~~
ojbyrne
As a matter of fact, it was. I did say "my experience." I arrived in SF in
October 2005, left in Dec. 2007. Rainclouds seem to have been following me
around forever.

~~~
menloparkbum
Early 2006 was extremely wet. I remember getting caught in some crazy
downpours. There were a number of floods down in Santa Cruz county that took
out roads and caused mudslides. In The City, March 2006 was a record setting
rainfall.

[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/31/...](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/31/WEATHER.TMP)

~~~
ojbyrne
I still remember thinking - wow, they oversold me on the climate. And then it
stopped raining at the end of March. For 8 months. Plus it seemed like the
thermometer was pinned at 72 degrees every day.

~~~
subwindow
> Plus it seemed like the thermometer was pinned at 72 degrees every day.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

~~~
ojbyrne
Quite the opposite. As I said, I felt that I was oversold on the climate from
my arrival in October till late March. Then, uh, wow.

------
kapitti
Congrats on the soon-to-be newborn. But, I'm saddened by Boston being removed
from the rotation.

------
fallentimes
Boooooo.

Just kidding, but I was looking forward to you guys returning to Boston.

~~~
pg
Oh, we'll be back a lot. We love Cambridge. We're just not going to run YC
there.

~~~
boucher
Keeping the office?

------
theklub
Guess someone will just have to pick up the scraps in Boston.

~~~
SwellJoe
That's an interesting thought. I would have never applied to YC if YC were
always in Boston, so there must be someone out there who would never apply if
it's always in California. Does that mean that, right now, a technically savvy
angel out in Boston could start snatching up some of the MIT and Harvard
alumni startups that YC ordinarily would have first dibs on? I dunno, but I
guess if I were an investor in Boston, I'd be thinking about how to put myself
in that position.

~~~
fallentimes
Being in California would have changed everything for us.

~~~
SwellJoe
For the better or worse? (I know I've seen you identify your startup in the
past, but I don't recall it right now, so I don't know whether you're doing
well or have gone back to the drawing board.)

~~~
fallentimes
TicketStumbler.com. We're doing well:

<http://ticketstumbler.com/new-stuff/>

But if we had spawned in CA we would have required funding. So far, we've been
able to get by without it.

To soon to tell if for better or worse :).

------
dgabriel
Congrats! Good luck, have fun.

As someone who has happily chosen to raise her children in Cambridge, we all
do what we think is best for our kids. Suburbia is _not_ for us; Huron Village
is about as suburban as I can stand. :)

~~~
nabeel
I'm in Huron village, and it's about as suburbia as I can stand. But, hey, to
each his own.

Not to worry about Boston, there's actually an interesting announcement that
will help fill the YC gap that is coming in the next 60 days.

------
dmpayton
Congrats on the kiddo, you guys! Mine is 6 months old already, and let me tell
you: what a ride it's been!

Also looking forward to having the additional opportunity per year to apply to
YC. :)

------
nreece
Congratulations!

When we were expecting out first baby, everyone we met and talked to advised
us to get as much sleep as possible, because it will be a bit difficult to get
a good night sleep for the first few weeks/months after the baby arrives. I
won't advise that to you guys, because I couldn't really understand how
sleeping longer for a few weeks/months now will help you sleep less for a few
weeks/months later on.

------
epall
Augh no! I'm determined to graduate, dammit, and now you've gone and made
summer with YC even more attractive. Good move, PG & co.

------
unalone
Congratulations to you both!

We're applying this summer, and while we're on the East Coast we were
wondering whether Boston's not being a start-up town was good or not. Guess
now we don't have to worry about that.

Edit: any info on when exactly the application round opens?

------
icefox
So What ever happened to Paul's article that Cambridge is a hot spot for start
ups? I guess this means that there is a spot for someone else to take yc's
spot in the Boston area. Anyone know of replacements?

------
abstractbill
Awesome, good to have you guys here permanently, and congrats in advance!

------
davidw
Wow, congratulations on the baby. Ours has been a huge change in our lives,
but is really a source of joy (and worry:-) Any ideas about a name, or will it
only be revealed at the last moment?

------
shiny
Congrats. How soon are you gonna teach your kid programming?

------
tokenadult
Congratulations.

Northern California probably has a stronger network of homeschoolers than
greater Boston as well, although both places are all right in that regard.

------
thorax
We were predicting this after we interviewed with them in November. :)
Congrats, pg and Jessica.

------
Mistone
congrats to both of you, really exciting news. love that the reasons all make
sense but really it was all about where you want to live and raise kids.
despite it all this seems like the best way to make decisions: "whats best for
us?"

------
Tichy
Wonderful news. Congratulations!

------
babul
Congratulations!

The first of many kids hopefully (assuming you want many kids, that is).

------
nostrademons
Congrats PG & JL!

------
miked
Congratulations on the new baby!

------
cpach
Congratulations!

------
dantheman
Congratulations.

------
newy
congrats PG. looking forward to applying.

------
bijansabet
congrats. happy for you both!

------
gaius
'grats!!

------
ashu
w00t!

