How can I live in the Bay Area - Only Focus on my startup. | Hacker News Reader

How can I live in the Bay Area - Only Focus on my startup.

4 pointsMenaMena12310 comments

Ok, Im not an Ivy league rich kid, my parents wont pay any living costs. Should I save up and work on my startup daily or get a part time job?

My ideal situation would be to work 24/7 on my startup and then start pitching it around and making connections.

Having a full time job would take up the majority of my time, but if it has to be done I guess I will have no other option.

Let me know your ideas or experiences. Where I live now has no clue about the web startup scene and has no Angel investors or VCs. Its unheard of out here lol.

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If you don't have any savings, and don't have any income other than from working, how do you expect to live anywhere without working? Are you staying at home right now?

The bay area is expensive, but it varies a lot depending on where you are. Here's a hint: don't live in San Francisco. Look for a place in the east bay with roommates. If you want easy access to SF, just make sure it's near a BART station. You can get a decent place for < $600/mo that way.

If you're a good programmer and you can network, you should be able to cover your costs while only working 10-20 hrs/wk. That said, it make take you a little while to get your foot in the door if you're fresh out of school.

If you want to go soon, there are going to be a lot of university kids subletting their places for the summer.

The bay area is a great place. You'll have fun living there. Good luck!

Yea I will live anywhere as long as i can make the meetings at Sequoia capital or with my soon to be buddy Ron Conway. lol jk

Get here any way you can. If that means you get a job (even part time) and get in a roommate situation in sf or moutain view or whatever do it.

What kind of skills do you have? Email in profile if you have specific questions about the area or where to look for housing. I have lived here most of my life.

Im a designer. Web/print/marketing related. My best option would be to hook up with a great programmer and get things going. :)

I used to live in Fairfield, which is midway between SF and the state capital. It is in Solano County, which is basically the cheap seats of the Bay Area. It likely won't be quite the hot spot you are looking for, but last I heard, about 40% of people in Solano commute to jobs outside the county in other (pricier) parts of the Bay Area. Some people even do that without a car. Transportation alternatives in the Bay Area are almost as good as Europe (or at least way better than anything else I have personally seen elsewhere in the US). There is commuter rail, decent bus service, and all kinds of creative options that for me were strange and new.

So if you can find a place in Solano County, you can reduce your living expenses somewhat. (Last I checked, for $1k/mo in SF, you can get an SRO rental...but there may be a waiting list and it's a total dive. It's possible to work full time and be homeless in SF.)

This commute will cush your soul. You are better off in east palo alto...

A real estate agent informed me recently that east palo alto is bad news. Gangs, etc. Is this really true?

Yes, depending on where you live.

I lived in one of the newer subdivisions for a few years, and it was fine.

Hey MenaMena123 - in my opinion you should start working on your startup - build fast a prototype and test the market - see if you can earn some money with it. If you will start erning money very good - you are on the right track. If not -don't give up, try to find a part-time job so you can still earn some cash bu also work on your startup! Good like on your venture!

Also I'm not going for the money that can be invested, but the people that are around that can help etc etc. People are very important.

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