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Hey VCs, I have another idea for you: spread out a little. I'd have to get paid a completely ridiculous sum of money before I'd be willing to move to San Franci

Hey VCs, I have another idea for you: spread out a little. I'd have to get paid a completely ridiculous sum of money before I'd be willing to move to San Francisco. People are over it. This country is massive and has plenty of open land. The U.S. is the 3rd largest country by land area (behind Russia and Canada), but excepting Alaska, virtually all of our land is quite habitable, something neither Russia nor Canada can say. There is no reason anyone here should be paying $4k/mo to live in a tiny apartment. On top of that, California is one of the worst states for business in the country. There are ~40 states that have a totally untapped pool of resources including people, housing and land and a business-friendly legislature. Get out there and use them. And developers, push back against companies that want to enforce an SV-centric working methodology.

pcl 11y ago
The U.S. is the 3rd largest country by land area (behind Russia and Canada), but excepting Alaska, virtually all of our land is quite habitable. That got me wondering: where does the US sit if Alaska is excluded? Turns out that Alaska is about 663,000 square miles (or 1.7 million square kilometers), which moves the US from #3 to #5, below China and Brazil. Ranking: http://www.geohive.com/earth/area_top50.aspx http://www.geohive.com/earth/area_top50.aspx Other interesting land area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_use_statistics_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_use_statistics_by_country
ebiester 11y ago
This is always bizarre to me. California is the biggest economy as a state in the country. As such, for as many people say it's "bad for business," there are a lot of businesses choosing it for a destination.
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  California is the most populous state in the country; it has about 12 million more people than the next-biggest state (Texas). In general, people aren't really actively choosing it as much as they're either a) already there and using it by default or b) forced to be there to more easily access the market of almost 40 million people that reside there. This is in fact the only reason that California can afford to mistreat business owners -- they have a great deal of leverage. However, tech hubs are draws in and of themselves, and they could easily be located in friendlier states. People will come out to them.
  - st3v3r 11y ago
    Again, California is NOT mistreating business owners. Not in the least. They're simply not screwing over workers. As for those other tech hubs? Most are located in places where workers don't have basic rights, like the right to switch jobs (non-competes aren't enforceable in California) or the right to own the work they do on their own time (Employers in most cases cannot lay claim to work that someone does on their own time without company resources). Hence, they will never be popular as tech hubs or see the ecosystem of startups that Silicon Valley has.
st3v3r 11y ago
"On top of that, California is one of the worst states for business in the country." No, it isn't. Unless you define "bad for business" as "not catering to the every whims of the 'job creators' and obliterating all worker's rights."

pcl 11y ago

The U.S. is the 3rd largest country by land area (behind Russia and Canada), but excepting Alaska, virtually all of our land is quite habitable. That got me wondering: where does the US sit if Alaska is excluded? Turns out that Alaska is about 663,000 square miles (or 1.7 million square kilometers), which moves the US from #3 to #5, below China and Brazil. Ranking: http://www.geohive.com/earth/area_top50.aspx http://www.geohive.com/earth/area_top50.aspx Other interesting land area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_use_statistics_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_use_statistics_by_country

ebiester 11y ago

This is always bizarre to me. California is the biggest economy as a state in the country. As such, for as many people say it's "bad for business," there are a lot of businesses choosing it for a destination.

cookiecaper 11y ago
California is the most populous state in the country; it has about 12 million more people than the next-biggest state (Texas). In general, people aren't really actively choosing it as much as they're either a) already there and using it by default or b) forced to be there to more easily access the market of almost 40 million people that reside there. This is in fact the only reason that California can afford to mistreat business owners -- they have a great deal of leverage. However, tech hubs are draws in and of themselves, and they could easily be located in friendlier states. People will come out to them.
- st3v3r 11y ago
  Again, California is NOT mistreating business owners. Not in the least. They're simply not screwing over workers. As for those other tech hubs? Most are located in places where workers don't have basic rights, like the right to switch jobs (non-competes aren't enforceable in California) or the right to own the work they do on their own time (Employers in most cases cannot lay claim to work that someone does on their own time without company resources). Hence, they will never be popular as tech hubs or see the ecosystem of startups that Silicon Valley has.

st3v3r 11y ago

"On top of that, California is one of the worst states for business in the country." No, it isn't. Unless you define "bad for business" as "not catering to the every whims of the 'job creators' and obliterating all worker's rights."