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Yes VCs aren’t stupid (well mostly) - they know you won’t be able to hire as many similarly talented/experienced people in Atlanta. Want to hire some ex-faang e

Yes VCs aren’t stupid (well mostly) - they know you won’t be able to hire as many similarly talented/experienced people in Atlanta. Want to hire some ex-faang empoyee? Fogetaboutit. And what’s in Davis? For all intents and purposes it’s just more expensive Atlanta

vonmoltke 8y ago
> Yes VCs aren’t stupid (well mostly) - they know you won’t be able to hire as many similarly talented/experienced people in Atlanta. Considering all the "talent shortage" whining, it doesn't seem like they can find many in the Bay Area either. > Want to hire some ex-faang empoyee? Fogetaboutit. Most startups should fogetaboutit anyway. They don't need ex-FAANG employees, will waste precious runway hiring them for little marginal gain, and will be hard-pressed to give them all meaningful work to do (leading to spending even more money in short order to replace them).
- dilyevsky 8y ago
  The shortage in the sfba is of different kind - too much competition. So all you have to do is to offer larger pay or something non-monetary like career opportunity and you got yourself a great engineer. In some other locales it could legitimately be shortage of qualified staff. To your second point, faang employees are much more likely to pass any interview process (based on my extensive interviewing experience at my current gig) so you’re saving money on recruiting at least.
carapace 8y ago
> you won’t be able to hire as many similarly talented/experienced people But we're talking about starting a company. Typically you'll already have a technical co-founder or someone, no? If you grow you can grow to SF. Has no VC ever asked, "Would you be willing to relocate to <CHEAPER CITY> for two years?" > And what’s in Davis? UC Davis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Davis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Davi... > In 2006, Davis was ranked as the second most educated city (in terms of the percentage of residents with graduate degrees) in the US by CNN Money Magazine... ~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis,_California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis,_California Have you been there? It's nice. :-) It's close to the Bay Area and has lower costs and UC Davis. (And you don't have to put up with the constant cold winds! It's toasty there all year 'round!)
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  I'm surprised that second-tier firms and bootstrapping startups haven't made Sacramento into a mini-Silicon Valley yet.
- nipponese 8y ago
  I don't think you have spent much time in the other Valley: The Central Valley. Cold winters and hot summers... Winter avg highs are in the 50s (F), and summer avg high are >100°.
  - carapace 8y ago
    I didn't realize Winter got that cold there (but having spent a winter in Colorado I no longer complain about the cold in CA. :-) But Davis gets a lot of sun in Winter. I'd pretty much expect to either: have enough $$$ to afford (to lease or build) a properly architected building that has passive climate control; or NOT have enough and have other concerns than not-quite-perfect climate. I prefer SF's climate(s) to that of the the Central Valley, but it's hardly hellish there. (Unless you're stuck in traffic on the freeway and your car's air conditioner is broken. That is a level of Hell I think.)
- dilyevsky 8y ago
  What’s the point of starting in nowhere to relocate to sfba as soon as you need to hire anyone? Is UCD so much better than Georgia Tech? Some might disagree. Not surprised it has most ppl with degrees - it’s probably mostly school staff and some intel employees. It’s not that close that you can actually drive to the bay in a reasonable amount of time on a workday
  - carapace 8y ago
    > What’s the point of starting in nowhere to relocate to sfba as soon as you need to hire anyone? Save millions of dollars? > Is UCD so much better than Georgia Tech? Some might disagree. But then you'd be in Georgia... > Not surprised it has most ppl with degrees - it’s probably mostly school staff and some intel employees. That's my point: it's a University town crawling with smart people. > It’s not that close that you can actually drive to the bay in a reasonable amount of time on a workday So what? It's not Outer Mongolia. You can visit the city easily. I'm not suggesting a daily commute.
siidooloo 8y ago
This may be generally true, but I don’t think it is specifically in the case of Telltale. They made interactive fiction. Should that really require superstar programmers? Where they probably should’ Been spending their money is on artists that produce things their audience looks at and goes, “Ohh cool, I want that.”
- dilyevsky 8y ago
  If you read the article it specifically calls out two star employees leaving to ubisoft that has sparked the downfall

vonmoltke 8y ago

> Yes VCs aren’t stupid (well mostly) - they know you won’t be able to hire as many similarly talented/experienced people in Atlanta. Considering all the "talent shortage" whining, it doesn't seem like they can find many in the Bay Area either. > Want to hire some ex-faang empoyee? Fogetaboutit. Most startups should fogetaboutit anyway. They don't need ex-FAANG employees, will waste precious runway hiring them for little marginal gain, and will be hard-pressed to give them all meaningful work to do (leading to spending even more money in short order to replace them).

dilyevsky 8y ago
The shortage in the sfba is of different kind - too much competition. So all you have to do is to offer larger pay or something non-monetary like career opportunity and you got yourself a great engineer. In some other locales it could legitimately be shortage of qualified staff. To your second point, faang employees are much more likely to pass any interview process (based on my extensive interviewing experience at my current gig) so you’re saving money on recruiting at least.

carapace 8y ago

> you won’t be able to hire as many similarly talented/experienced people But we're talking about starting a company. Typically you'll already have a technical co-founder or someone, no? If you grow you can grow to SF. Has no VC ever asked, "Would you be willing to relocate to <CHEAPER CITY> for two years?" > And what’s in Davis? UC Davis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Davis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Davi... > In 2006, Davis was ranked as the second most educated city (in terms of the percentage of residents with graduate degrees) in the US by CNN Money Magazine... ~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis,_California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis,_California Have you been there? It's nice. :-) It's close to the Bay Area and has lower costs and UC Davis. (And you don't have to put up with the constant cold winds! It's toasty there all year 'round!)

Apocryphon 8y ago
I'm surprised that second-tier firms and bootstrapping startups haven't made Sacramento into a mini-Silicon Valley yet.
nipponese 8y ago
I don't think you have spent much time in the other Valley: The Central Valley. Cold winters and hot summers... Winter avg highs are in the 50s (F), and summer avg high are >100°.
- carapace 8y ago
  I didn't realize Winter got that cold there (but having spent a winter in Colorado I no longer complain about the cold in CA. :-) But Davis gets a lot of sun in Winter. I'd pretty much expect to either: have enough $$$ to afford (to lease or build) a properly architected building that has passive climate control; or NOT have enough and have other concerns than not-quite-perfect climate. I prefer SF's climate(s) to that of the the Central Valley, but it's hardly hellish there. (Unless you're stuck in traffic on the freeway and your car's air conditioner is broken. That is a level of Hell I think.)
dilyevsky 8y ago
What’s the point of starting in nowhere to relocate to sfba as soon as you need to hire anyone? Is UCD so much better than Georgia Tech? Some might disagree. Not surprised it has most ppl with degrees - it’s probably mostly school staff and some intel employees. It’s not that close that you can actually drive to the bay in a reasonable amount of time on a workday
- carapace 8y ago
  > What’s the point of starting in nowhere to relocate to sfba as soon as you need to hire anyone? Save millions of dollars? > Is UCD so much better than Georgia Tech? Some might disagree. But then you'd be in Georgia... > Not surprised it has most ppl with degrees - it’s probably mostly school staff and some intel employees. That's my point: it's a University town crawling with smart people. > It’s not that close that you can actually drive to the bay in a reasonable amount of time on a workday So what? It's not Outer Mongolia. You can visit the city easily. I'm not suggesting a daily commute.

siidooloo 8y ago

This may be generally true, but I don’t think it is specifically in the case of Telltale. They made interactive fiction. Should that really require superstar programmers? Where they probably should’ Been spending their money is on artists that produce things their audience looks at and goes, “Ohh cool, I want that.”

dilyevsky 8y ago
If you read the article it specifically calls out two star employees leaving to ubisoft that has sparked the downfall