
The SoCal Network: The companies behind LA's tech boom - applecore
https://story.californiasunday.com/silicon-beach-la-tech-boom
======
HiLo
I live in Houston, and am moving to LA soon over NYC (finance + commodities
background) or SF (fits current career path). I know NYC and SF can be really
cool places, but you really have to stop pretending they are unless you really
are pulling in 7 or more figures. The people and lifestyle in LA are way more
conducive, intellectually and otherwise, to the life I want and the way I see
things going. I see places like Houston, Austin, and LA outperforming NYC and
SF for the time being.

~~~
eachro
7 figures is a huge exaggeration. You can live comfortably on 80-100k in NYC.
Not everyone needs to live in Manhattan. Rent in the outer boroughs can be
very affordable if you look in the right places. You can still indulge from
time to time(a broadway show once a month, the random cheap concert every two
weeks or so, brunch with friends from out of town) and still save a lot. I was
making high 5 figures out of college and still managed to save 25% of my after
tax income each year. Granted, I'd have been able to save more if I were
living in say Philly or Chicago. But still it's very doable.

------
swang
I would rather work in LA than SF. Obviously this part of the equation is
_preference_

But the problem is I am dying to find something in LA but it's just really
hard to find a tech company you'd want to work for where because there's
usually only one company in that space.

For example. Let's say I want to find a job involving "bitcoin" I search and
find this link[0]. Ignoring all the links to companies that no longer own
their own domain names, NO ONE HAS ANY SPECIFIC JOB OPENINGS. 3 of the sites I
went to give a generic form for you to enter info if maybe you are interested.
But nothing specific.

Okay so maybe bitcoins are not a good startup idea in LA, let's go for Drones.
Everyone LOVES drones right? So I goto "drones"[1] on that same website.
There's like 8 links there, half of them don't go anywhere and the rest have
no specific job positions either.

Part of the lure of SFBA is that your options are pretty varied but also the
depth of each tech space is relatively deep. Don't like this company in tech
space Y? Try the 4 other companies in that same field.

You can't even get two options in LA. You can either goto Snapchat if you want
to be part of the big social media company or you can join... what?

You can go with the hot online dating startup Tinder, or.... what?

There is literally no alternative to seek another company in the same space in
LA because most likely the company doesn't exist. You don't really have the
freedom to still be in a certain tech category while avoiding certain
companies in that space.

About the only tech space you have options in is if you want to be part of a
tech boutique shop that does custom websites for the big movie companies. I
know people in that field and they seem happy with what they're doing so if
that is your thing, LA could work out.

Oh yeah and they also pay kinda shitty considering LA (especially Venice,
Santa Monica, Playa Vista where Rubicon is) is not cheap. And although I'm
sure some companies do offer free snacks/perks, I've heard a lot where they
aren't expected to provide that because it's LA, not SF.

Yes yes, no free snacks, first-world-problems and all that. But if you're
trying to attract tech talent then you should be offering something besides,
"LA Cool"

[0]
[http://startupsla.com/startups/bitcoin](http://startupsla.com/startups/bitcoin)
[1]
[http://startupsla.com/startups/drones](http://startupsla.com/startups/drones)

~~~
gamblor956
There's an important distinction between LA and SF: SF has startups with no
revenue goals or strategic direction, but LA has _businesses_ with plans to
generate revenue (and even profits). Most of LA's businesses avoid LA's
startup scene. Like SF, the startup scene here is a self-congratulatory frat
party fueled by VC money, where funding announcements are celebrated with
raucous applause but profit announcements are greeted by a silent room.

 _There is literally no alternative to seek another company in the same space
in LA because most likely the company doesn 't exist. You don't really have
the freedom to still be in a certain tech category while avoiding certain
companies in that space....About the only tech space you have options in is if
you want to be part of a tech boutique shop that does custom websites for the
big movie companies. I know people in that field and they seem happy with what
they're doing so if that is your thing, LA could work out._

Your problem is that you used a single random list website as your data point.
LA's a big place with many tech or tech-related businesses, and there are few
if any websites that even attempt to gather all of that data.

LA has hundreds of companies revolutionizing media technology--nearly every
VFX company in the area is working on some sort of innovative technology or
software, companies like Machinima and Red Bull changed the way we produce
media, and companies like Hulu have changed the way we consume media. LA is
the home to hundreds of triple-AAA and indie video game developers, from the
_Braid_ guy and Riot Games to EA and Square Enix. We've got dozens of
companies in the tech advertising space that you've never heard of even though
they're wildly profitable because they're purely B2B. We've got hundreds of
companies in the fashion/apparel space innovating at every step in the fashion
process, from design to end-customer sales. LA is still _the_ place to be for
aerospace technology. While SF startups dream about one day dipping their toes
into logistics, LA-based companies have already revolutionized the
technologies and process underlying the biggest logistics operations in the
Northern Hemisphere several times over.

And yes, we even have startups like Snapchat, a social app that no one in a
media town would even remotely consider a media company.

 _Oh yeah and they also pay kinda shitty considering LA (especially Venice,
Santa Monica, Playa Vista where Rubicon is) is not cheap. And although I 'm
sure some companies do offer free snacks/perks, I've heard a lot where they
aren't expected to provide that because it's LA, not SF._

Venice, Manhattan Beach, and beach-adjacent Santa Monica is LA's Silicon Beach
area. Like most beach cities in desirable areas they are expensive, though it
is possible to live inland and pay reasonable rates for housing. Most
businesses are spread out across LA, and with the exception of the video game
cluster in Playa Del Rel (a beach city south of Santa Monica) most of the
clusters are not in the beach-adjacent areas.

~~~
swang
> Your problem is that you used a single random list website as your data
> point. LA's a big place with many tech or tech-related businesses, and there
> are few if any websites that even attempt to gather all of that data.

Yup, never really trying to hide that. That was my cursory search example. Not
a complete drill-down of every company in LA. I still can't name a bitcoin or
drone company in LA.

> LA has hundreds of companies revolutionizing media technology--nearly every
> VFX company in the area is working on some sort of innovative technology or
> software

OK name some? Almost all VFX companies _make_ money but very few are looking
for engineer/technologists are much as they're looking for people who know how
to handle the expensive software. How many of those companies are actually
hiring?

> companies like Machinima and Red Bull changed the way we produce media, and
> companies like Hulu have changed the way we consume media.

Cool. Not sure how this addresses the problem I stated.

> LA is the home to hundreds of triple-AAA and indie video game developers,
> from the Braid guy and Riot Games to EA and Square Enix.

"Braid guy" aka Jonathan Blow works in San Francisco now. Video games are
definitely one of the few tech related fields where you have options, albeit
with apparently poor pay. But again why work down in LA when SF have so many
gaming jobs as well?

> We've got dozens of companies in the tech advertising space that you've
> never heard of even though they're wildly profitable because they're purely
> B2B.

So how would I even know to work at a tech advertising company in LA if "I've
never heard of (it)?" And the problem again is there are tons of "tech
advertising" in SFBA: Turn, Vivaki, Rocketfuel, Mopub, Facebook, Google, AOL,
PubMatic just off the top of my head are all IN SF (although I think Google
may do some ad stuff down in Irvine?). Why would I move down to LA to work at
companies that are so bad at marketing I've never heard of them?

> We've got hundreds of companies in the fashion/apparel space innovating at
> every step in the fashion process, from design to end-customer sales.

Are we still talking tech or fashion?

> LA is still the place to be for aerospace technology. Cool, if you're
> mecheng or eeng.

> While SF startups dream about one day dipping their toes into logistics, LA-
> based companies have already revolutionized the technologies and process
> underlying the biggest logistics operations in the Northern Hemisphere
> several times over. Okay...

Apparently you've mistake my comment as, "there are no jobs in LA" when I
never argue that. I've lived in LA and grew up in SoCal so I would prefer to
work there if I can find the right job. But from what I've seen that is
available it's a lot of slim pickings compared to SF.

> Venice, Manhattan Beach, and beach-adjacent Santa Monica is LA's Silicon
> Beach area. Like most beach cities in desirable areas they are expensive,
> though it is possible to live inland and pay reasonable rates for housing.
> Most businesses are spread out across LA, and with the exception of the
> video game cluster in Playa Del Rel (a beach city south of Santa Monica)
> most of the clusters are not in the beach-adjacent areas.

Cool, you don't address that the companies in LA still pay their Engineers
shit. You can live further away but then you're paying with your time, gas and
car maintenance.

