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San Francisco is an odd place. And so is Silicon Valley and the big brands we all know. Most of what startups there do is to solve local problems of San Frnacis
by ulfw 10y ago
San Francisco is an odd place. And so is Silicon Valley and the big brands we all know. Most of what startups there do is to solve local problems of San Frnacisco (and there are MANY!).
Taxis suck? -> Uber
Hotels super shit and your rent is super high? -> AirBnB
Restaurants don't deliver -> various delivery services
Wholefood et al doesn't deliver -> various delivery services
No laundry in your $5000 rental apt -> laundry by app
A lot of those problems don't exist in more developed places. (Yet other problems do). But these big startups grow due to it's ecosystem and Marketing/PR focus on the Bay Area.
- lawless123 10y ago>Most of what startups there do is to solve local problems of San Francisco (and there are MANY!). San Francisco must be a paradise on Earth then? I've never been.
- mcintyre1994 10y agoI've heard it called (I think on HN!) an assisted living community for people in their 20s - because all those services are subsidised by VC capital too.
- ghaff 10y agoWell, specifically they serve the perceived problems of well-paid tech workers in San Francisco, which isn't actually most of the population. San Francisco has its merits but it most certainly isn't paradise on earth.
- M_Grey 10y agoMore like a bubble waiting to messily burst, or in the most extreme, the place we'll fondly remember after the earthquake.
- toephu2 10y agoTech center of the world with a 1970's subway system that sucks in more ways than one (hurts your ears inside and out, dirty, not on time, not many stops, frequent maintenance issues, etc.).