

Ask PG: San Francisco or Peninsula  - svtiger

What location (in general), is better for tech entrepreneurs? And has the bulk of the startup scene shifted from the Peninsula to San Francisco?
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weston
When I moved out here two years ago, I figured 80% of the startups out here
were in Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Cupertino. I was pleasantly surprised
how many startup are in the city ("the city" is what locals call San
Francisco).

You can't go wrong either or... it depends on your needs and there is no right
answer. Both are good options.

A few tips: Try to be within reasonable walking distance of either a BART
station or the Caltrain. This will give you an excellent public transportation
option to easily bypass freeway gridlock when travelling between the Peninsula
and SF.

Also, a good option may be a happy middle... such as San Mateo or Burlingame.
There are startups here as well and you wouldn't be more than 30 mins on the
train to Mountain View or SOMA, San Francisco.

EDIT to add disclaimer: I live in MV within walking distance of YC actually.
It's very nice but also an hour to SF on the train.

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reteltech
In my own personal experience, I've found that there seems to be a cultural
difference between the two locations. The nexus of enterprise/SAAS seems to be
firmly seated in the Peninsula, while consumer/apps is in SF. That's not a
universal rule, but seems to be the predominating trend amongst the type of
companies in each general area.

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ad_bfl
Checkout Redwood city, easy access to the train and closer to Palo Alto.

One thing to realize is that the Peninsula is where us old farts with kids
live, if I was single I would live in the city.

