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Different founder personalities choose the city or valley. Funky hipsters want to live in the city, head-down coders choose the valley, and many are pulled both
by tlb 16y ago
Different founder personalities choose the city or valley. Funky hipsters want to live in the city, head-down coders choose the valley, and many are pulled both ways and have to make a hard choice. Rather than the geography causing cliques, I think personality types determine both geography and friendships.
- cperciva 16y agoInteresting -- thanks for the perspective! Would it be fair to say that valley startups are more likely to tackle hard technical problems while city startups are more likely to tackle hard non-technical (business, marketing, etc.) problems?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- tlb 16y agoYes. It's somewhat rational. The city keeps you more in touch with urban culture, the valley gives you fewer distractions. The talent pool is somewhat polarized, with more graphic designers & marketers in the city and more hackers in the valley, so depending on your hiring needs it may make sense to prefer one or the other. It's a shame the commute between them sucks so much.
- shykes 16y agoThere is a kernel of truth in this, like in most hasty generalizations. We definitely fall in the "hard choice" category. From our Mountain View house we, too, made fun of San Francisco "funky hipsters". Now that we're in the city, we realize that, surprise! We're not the only head-down coders in town.
- jfb 16y agoSome of us lived locally before YC, too.
- kogir 16y agoPrice plays a big role too. As your company grows you'll find that the valley has cheaper offices, cheaper housing, and cheaper food. Caltrain is decent for your employees in the city, and Mountain View is tolerable for your employees in Santa Cruz.