Ask YC: Is the Bay Area Much Better than Seattle for Startups?
I'm working full time in a software company in Seattle area and will be leaving soon to work full-time on my startup. (I already have already released a prototype of my product). I'm tempted to stay in Seattle as I love it here... but my startup is my first priority, and I'm prepared to move anywhere in the world if it means I'll have a significantly higher probability of success. Finally, I'm a single founder and potentially looking for a technical co-founder... so where I can find this person factors in to the decision as well.
Questions for you: 1) For those of you who have lived in Seattle & San Francisco, how much better is SF for startups than Seattle? How do you quantify this? 2) I have a quick list of pros/cons to Seattle vs. SF below... can folks provide feedback on whether this analysis makes sense? 3) Any other thoughts on whether I should make the move or not? 4) Where is better for finding like minded entrepreneurial hackers?
Pro/Con for Seattle vs. SF Seattle Pros: lower cost of living, closer access to outdoors & mountains etc..., lower cost of rent for offices, lower legal costs, less competition for top quality talent than SF (there are fewer startups in Seattle so people who want to work at them have fewer choices on where to go), monthly startup events have on the order of ~50 people or so, rains often so you're more likely to sit inside coding than going outside Cons: rains a lot :P
SF Pros: epicenter of startups, monthly startup events (SFBeta etc..) have on the order of ~100 people, huge talent pool of highly skilled engineers, more likely to find technical co-founder, more startup events, more access to capital, closer to family SF Cons: higher cost of living, higher cost of rent, higher cost of services (leagal etc..), harder to get top quality talent (you're competing with hundreds of startups), more competition for capital
PS: I have already read PG's essays and read the YCNews forums on where to be for a tech startup. I've also recently read Marc Andreessen's post on where your startup should be (he reccomends moving to the Valley). Finally, I have a friend who recently quit Google to work on his startup full time in the Bay Area and he extols the advantages of the location.