The reason this article is trending at the top of HN is the reason this person is going through this. The idea that great start-ups must exist on an 47 sq mile piece of land with utterly mediocre weather (the literal definition of mediocre, that is - one many of us love, myself included) in perfect coexistence with a quaint aging population below the poverty line, drug addicts, and the last generation that sought to live there in the last boom is patently absurd.
Why so many globally reaching, internet based, in every home in the world companies think that they absolutely must be positioned in the mecca of startupdom is why I just can't take my own career seriously for too long. There's no reason we all need to be on that tiny peninsula! If you need to be there for "reach to investors", "proximity to the startup culture", guess what, your product probably sucks. If it were any good, you could do it from anywhere, without having to sit on the great lords of tech investment's front door begging every day.
You want to disrupt something? Why not start with disrupting the idea that being part of "start-up culture" is required to be successful.