EY report for Q1 2023 is even more drastic - https://www.ey.com/en_us/growth/venture-capital/q1-2023-vent.... SFBA has 25B+ investment while the second biggest (NYC) has 3.8B.
I know plenty of startups in Palo Alto, San Mateo, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, San Jose and Santa Clara. Even in Oakland. I'd say center of gravity for SFBA is again shifting back to SV.
SF's differentiator in the Bay during the 2008-16 period was cheap office space due to the collapse of the "Wall Street of the West" during the GFC.
Otherwise, people would live in SF and commute down to RWC southwards to work. There was a time only 13-15 years ago when major tech companies didn't exist north of the Oracle office in Redwood Shores.
Capital.
Most angels, pre-seed, and incubators are still in the Bay Area and Seattle (largely a function of FAANG being HQed in those 2 metros).
The handful of those ime in the NYC area tend to aim towards Israeli startups that are semi-established already (eg. Team8).
Also, because plenty of tech companies have a significant presence across Asia or even started there, the Bay Area wins out due to reasonable direct flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Delhi, Bangalore, Singapore.
It's the same reason why most Israeli startups choose Boston and NYC, because you have a large Israeli diaspora there and direct El Al flights every single day excluding Shabbat.
> Garry Tan's twitter feed is full of examples
He brings up some real issues that SF's political establishment ignores, but he's also wading into local politics by funding a friend of his's entrance into SF local politics. Great guy but there is some vested interests going on. Sort of like Ron Conway 10-20 years ago.
> it looked like Chicago about a decade ago
I'd disagree. Chicago has always been more lively. It has the benefit of a younger crowd as it's a college town. SF and the Bay Area in general has professionalized, becoming sort of a Manhattan 2.0.
Also, the kind of cool artsy stuff you'd see 10-15 years ago is happening, but now mostly in Oakland and San Jose, because most people doing artsy stuff in their 20s today are living with their parents.
Alternatively, you might just not be "in" the crowd anymore. People my age don't club as much - we go to raves instead. We don't drink as much either - preferring to get stoned or just wake up early and workout and hike instead. My buddies in SF who moved to NYC mostly moved to club and get laid. Those of us who had the option and stayed weren't big into clubbing or already had relationships.
If you were used to clubbing or drinking culture on Polk St or Castro or Folsom or Mission a decade ago, that era's long dead.