I agree. I was surprised that the gap was so narrow. Only costing 25% less is not a favorable outcome for Philadelphia given how expensive Silicon Valley is.

If I can do Philly for $3.3m or SV for $4.5m, that's an easy choice. The valuation boost you'll get for being in SV instead of Philly will cover that several times over. The network and talent available in SV is worth suffering that gap all by itself. The only way that difference is a meaningful deterrent to choosing SV, is if you're not going to raise serious VC and will mostly bootstrap the business or otherwise raise smaller amounts of investment. In that case saving that money can make a big difference.

Ha ha, I totally dont' agree with you, but I appreciate your point :).