Pay them a Silicon Valley salary, or you can hire someone from SF that loves LA, like me.

I wish there were better paying tech jobs in LA. I'd go in a heartbeat.

The biggest problem with wanna-be LA tech companies is that they havent figured out that the engineers are the rock stars and try to undercut them on salaries and perks. Good luck with that.

Maybe I'm generalizing.

Anyway, as a startup your challenge is immensely larger, not to say its impossible, but consider that all the talent is concentrated in the Bay for a reason -- then refactor your expectations.

I would suggest you develop your own prototype, pitch to investors and then move your office to San Jose, it'll at least be cheaper and youll have better access to engineers.

Excellent well-established engineers cost money, inexperienced and undiscovered ones can be lured if you are in the right location.