Web 2.0 companies settling in San Francisco

It wasn't long after Yammer moved up from LA that I joined, so IMHO it was a good move :) SOMA is just about the perfect place for startups: tons of converted office space, access to both City and peninsula engineers, it's easy to get to, and technology permeates almost everything you do.

The only real drawbacks are the cost of living and that we're in an echo chamber (SOMA) that's inside an echo chamber (Bay Area); it can be hard to remember that Uncle Joe doesn't check in on FourSquare, has never bought a coffee with Square and doesn't know who @aplusk is. Some startups really lose that perspective. I've worked at some of them. Yammer has perspective, a business plan, and Sacks and our CTO are the best leadership I've ever worked for. If we stay on our current trajectory, someday we'll graduate to needing a campus office park in Palo Alto. But for now, SOMA's a great place to work.

Interesting, but seems hardly surprising - also not restricted to San Francisco. Where I live (Europe) the trendier and younger companies are in warehouse-style offices in the inner city and the more established ones have moved into bigger, more purpose-built places in the suburbs because they need the space and their workforce wants to live there.