
Why You Should Stay in Silicon Valley - typage
https://medium.com/@badger__app/why-you-should-stay-in-silicon-valley-efdc95ce9e6b#.mi66q3b2g
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humbleMouse
I admire your desire to solve problems, but you can’t just write off
macroeconomic trends. Debt cycles are a real thing and they do happen.
Deleveraging is a real phenomenon. All the money printing the fed did is
unprecedented in history and has real effects. Who is going to stay in silicon
valley when people are not throwing around funding? Not everybody has 250k to
spend on a domain name.

On top of these macroeconomic facts — why would you want to live in a big
suburban sprawl with bad traffic? Sounds pretty crappy to me.

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typage
The over-printing of money by the Fed is a real problem and the bailout in
2008 I don't think was a good idea, but I'm not the best to comment on that
particular subject. The point I'm attempting to make is if you are a person
that wants to solve problems for people, general macroeconomic trends
shouldn't hurt you to the point where you aren't working on that problem.

The biggest value in Silicon Valley outside of access to capital is something
I didn't mention in the article. It is the network of people who are very
capable that you can get to know who know a lot about the specific fields you
are entering (e.g. mobile, hardware, VR, semi-conductors etc)

There are pluses and minuses to being here, but there will always be capital
available to those that are solving real problems. Some of the best companies
were started in downturns (e.g. Facebook 2007 I believe?)

Thanks for the comment, thoughts?

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humbleMouse
I am also of the school of economic thought that there are always
opportunities in the market. I think it is a compelling argument that there
may be even more opportunities in a "down" market.

I am sure the network of people in silicon valley is great. However, I think
most people are just out there trying to get a nice 120k job and chill. When
vc capital drys up, all of these people are going to leave. The fact remains -
many people are up to their eyeballs in debt and they cannot afford to sit
around potentially not having a real job. There may be holdouts like yourself
who stick around and have money to pay the rent with - but all of the
transient 120k people are going to leave.

The gist of what I am saying is that I think you overestimate the cash
reserves of the average person. When the jobs leave, the people leave. Simple
as that! It doesn't matter if they want to solve problems. They have bills to
pay.

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typage
I like what you are saying. Generally, people have less money than what you
would think they have. The people who have the $120k job and want to chill are
incentivized to consider leaving if the jobs aren't there. This is not a calm
area of the world so if you want to work and chill out there are much better
places to be no matter the stage of the cycle. They aren't the sorts of people
that start companies or join the earliest stage ones that I was attempting to
appeal to.

You are right though that sometimes economics dictates the situation and
people have to leave due to not being frugal enough during the good times. You
should always be prepared for a rainy day.

If one entrepreneur or early stage employee reads the article who is on the
fence and it convinces them to stick it out, then it was an article worth
writing.

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smt88
For the vast majority of people, starting companies will only be a money-
losing effort. Don't criticize people for choosing not to take this risk. Not
everyone can (or wants to) afford it.

For the vast majority of people, joining a startup in Silicon Valley costs
more than it's worth. Salaries are not pegged to the cost of living in SF.
Some startups have a work culture that demands long hours, little time with
family, and accepting illusory equity instead of cash. Don't criticize people
for choosing not to live their lives that way.

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adambrod
I agree, you can spend almost an entire years worth of office rent from the
midwest and spend it in a month in Silicon Valley/SF. Sure some people may
benefit from the high density of funding but if you're just working on
product... why burn through so much? Also off topic but being outside the echo
chamber is valuable for most products.

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zer00eyz
I used to say if want to work with the stock market, NYNY. If you want to work
in insurance Hartford CT. If you want to be an engineer SF.

However after you have been here a while, you don't need to STAY here to run a
small SAS. And unless you KNOW that your going to turn into a unicorn (I hate
that term) you probably DONT need to be here.

~~~
typage
I agree with that. If you are working on a small, niche technology business
living somewhere cheaper is a solid play. Moreover, those people have been
raising capital in the last few years and attempting to do pivots to shoot for
the moon when they could have a successful business, and this often ends up in
disaster as the company is not a unicorn.

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venomsnake
Well seems like people are leaving SV because the rent it too high. And I
think that "Why bother making money here, when it will only make my landlord
richer" is the driving attitude for people to leave.

~~~
typage
The rents are high here compared to most places in the world, but the
opportunity is greater here (if you are starting a company or joining an early
stage one).

What I have tried to convey is that for those people the times aren't as bad
as they think they are and that they should stick it through.

If you aren't taking advantage of that unique eco-system leaving is fine move.
The people I have chatted to before I wrote the piece were people who
were/should be taking advantage of that eco-system.

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adambrod
What about companies that need to save money? SV is extremely expensive
compared to other parts of the country and SV is not a good value for everyone
(also i'm assuming this is your post from the name)

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typage
Companies should always be frugal. The excess that has happened here in the
last few years has been over the top.

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mariel574
I think it's OK for people who aren't really committed to leave. I also wonder
if it's worth encouraging folks who want to be in tech to head to other cities
where there is slightly less competition but potential for higher impact.

PS This reminds me a bit of "Why I'm leaving China" articles that came out
from a bunch of expats a few years ago :)

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steveislearning
It's just not necessary to be in Silicon Valley to build a great product. Once
you've got a team of smart people, get out! "The Valley" and San Francisco
have been overtaken by sales and marketing bros, anyway.

