

Ask HN: East Coast Vs West Coast: Risk Adversion - jpd750

I&#x27;ve been meaning to ask this on here and wondered what your thoughts were on this.<p>I live (currently) on the east coast, but visited the west coast (SF to get to the point).<p>After 25 years of living on the east coast, I&#x27;ve started to see a trend of folks here regarding <i>joining&#x2F;starting</i> a startup venture.<p>I talk to countless individuals (tech and non-tech) would refuse to leave a cushy 9-5 job to start something awesome.<p>I recently spoke to an advisor of my startup who mentioned individuals living on east coast (generally speaking) are very risk adverse as compared to SF Bay area (and surrounding areas).<p>Is this a location thing? e.g. East coast being disproportionally risk adverse as compared to its west coast counterparts? Or have I just met overly risk adverse east coasters?
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eshvk
1\. Joining a startup is different from starting a startup. When you join a
startup, irrespective of what cat video app your startup is working, you are
still an employee. You may not be working 9-5. You may be working more like
11-11 but you are still nevertheless an employee.

2\. I would say that there are more people starting startups in the West Coast
because there is a culture of starting companies in the West coast and people
think it better to be closer to VCs. It is meaningless to bring this into a
conversation of risk because there are loads of people working on risky shit
everywhere. Working in a big company at a senior level is playing high stakes
poker every day. It is not the same as a "cushy 9-5 job".

Source: I lived in SF, worked for startups for two years. Currently work in
NYC.

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couchand
I believe the term you're looking for is "risk averse".

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coralreef
Everywhere outside of the valley is less tolerant of risk, which is what sort
of makes the valley special.

