"I guess to me, it seems strange for someone, especially in tech in the Bay Area, to want to be a founder but have nobody in their personal network that they wo

"I guess to me, it seems strange for someone, especially in tech in the Bay Area, to want to be a founder but have nobody in their personal network that they would like to work with also interested in being a founder who reciprocated that feeling." I think it depends a lot on how you got your experience in tech. If you got your stripes via a CS degree and several years at an established company or two in a tech hotspot, then yes it's perhaps kind of strange if through all of that you never developed a network with any potential co-founders in it. Developing a network is one of the primary benefits of taking this path. But if instead you were self-taught and became an expert through contracting and/or doing your own projects, you could easily not have a network with many potential co-founders in it despite being great at what you do. This can also be the case in spite of having an otherwise strong personal network--you might know tons of interesting and accomplished people who have absolutely zero interest in startups.