
Starting a company in Silicon Valley is Stupid - Anon84
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/03/20/starting-a-company-in-silicon-valley-is-stupid/
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mahmud
I'm starting out of the DC area with very little expenses. I would move to SV
in a heartbeat just to be around people who I can _talk_ to. Being "groked"
gotta be worth something.

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joe_the_user
Hmm,

Interesting. The arguments seem to mainly come down to cost of living.

The Bay Area rates pretty expensive in many books. BUT the Bay does have a lot
of single people renting rooms. Moreover, the culture of shared housing means
that here, in "the metropolis", we don't necessarily live only in our houses
but in cafes, in public spaces, etc.

In many small areas that rate as having the lowest cost of living, the only
rentals easily available are one bed room apartments by yourself. There is no
culture of shared housing - see Nickled And Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich for
how hard it can be to find housing in areas with supposedly low costs of
living. Moreover, in areas without a shared housing culture, you will feel
pretty lost without a big house.

That said, college towns often do have the same shared housing culture as the
metropolis so this woman's choice of Madison might be quite good for her - but
it is possibly good but somewhat unique choice rather than being "anywhere but
the bay area".

