4 ms·

So all those years of "the only place in the country that you can possibly start a company is in San Francisco" turned out to be nonsense?

randall 6y ago
I'd argue this is a reductionist point of view. COVID forced so many things, including an acceleration of a trend toward distributed advice. It's entirely possible (probable?) SF was the best place to start a company. It probably still is 2-10x better than the next startup hub for a complete outsider to break into startups. However, what I think is changing is that for insiders, ie ex big tech employees, or former founders, SF / SFBA at large are no longer requisite.
PragmaticPulp 6y ago
As someone who lost out big on a previous startup situation because I wouldn’t move to San Francisco, this stings a little. In retrospect, SF really would have been the best place at the time, but I don’t believe it was the only place to do a startup like it was portrayed. COVID really forced a shakeup of the status quo with remote work. We all saw that coming. What I didn’t see coming was the massive amount of capital floating around in this COVID economy. Investors previously had the upper hand because they controlled a scarce resource, but now they’re all fighting to get allocations in interesting startups. Investors have to branch out of the usual startup cities to find deals. Should be interesting for the startup world. I don’t see SF declining as a startup hotspot, but at least it’s no longer the only acceptable option.
- omgwtfbbq 6y ago
  >What I didn’t see coming was the massive amount of capital floating around in this COVID economy This is not a new phenomenon and certainly not caused by COVID. For years now you could raise a few million by having Stanford/MIT/Berkeley/etc somewhere on your resume and a half baked idea about AI or Blockchain
fullstackwife 6y ago
Does it make sense to compare single year of 2020 with 2005-2019 ?
hkmurakami 6y ago
The building part was and is possible anywhere. People’s mindsets regarding investing and buying services from non consensus locations likely has dramatically changed.
ma2rten 6y ago
They never even said that. 1. Any YC advice does not apply to all companies, but only to startups. 2. YC has funded companies in many places. 3. YC is not in SF. 4. This announcement doesn't say anything about location.
- fastball 6y ago
  Re: point 1, what is a startup if not a company you are starting...
  - cs-szazz 6y ago
    I generally subscribe to PG's definition of a startup, which is a company designed to grow fast: http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
    - btilly 6y ago
      I prefer Steve Blank's, an organization in search of a repeatable and scalable business model. See https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/ https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-prin... for more. The two definitions are equivalent though.
boatsie 6y ago
YC always required teams to move to the bay to maximize their success chances. But if almost everyone in tech is remote, then they aren’t losing ground compared to other companies working remote. It’s similar to saying “you have to be on site if you want to get promoted faster” when almost everyone is on site and you are the only remote person. When everyone is remote, the equation changes.
- skeeter2020 6y ago
  >> YC always required teams to move to the bay to maximize their success chances. I believe it is primarily to maximize your immersion and focus on your startup. If this is true remote will definitely not work as well. >> But if almost everyone in tech is remote. This is not true now, let alone in the next 6-12 months.
jedberg 6y ago
I would say that advice was applicable until March 2020. What will be interesting is if we move back towards in-person meetups or keep doing them online.

randall 6y ago

I'd argue this is a reductionist point of view. COVID forced so many things, including an acceleration of a trend toward distributed advice. It's entirely possible (probable?) SF was the best place to start a company. It probably still is 2-10x better than the next startup hub for a complete outsider to break into startups. However, what I think is changing is that for insiders, ie ex big tech employees, or former founders, SF / SFBA at large are no longer requisite.

PragmaticPulp 6y ago

As someone who lost out big on a previous startup situation because I wouldn’t move to San Francisco, this stings a little. In retrospect, SF really would have been the best place at the time, but I don’t believe it was the only place to do a startup like it was portrayed. COVID really forced a shakeup of the status quo with remote work. We all saw that coming. What I didn’t see coming was the massive amount of capital floating around in this COVID economy. Investors previously had the upper hand because they controlled a scarce resource, but now they’re all fighting to get allocations in interesting startups. Investors have to branch out of the usual startup cities to find deals. Should be interesting for the startup world. I don’t see SF declining as a startup hotspot, but at least it’s no longer the only acceptable option.

omgwtfbbq 6y ago
>What I didn’t see coming was the massive amount of capital floating around in this COVID economy This is not a new phenomenon and certainly not caused by COVID. For years now you could raise a few million by having Stanford/MIT/Berkeley/etc somewhere on your resume and a half baked idea about AI or Blockchain

fullstackwife 6y ago

Does it make sense to compare single year of 2020 with 2005-2019 ?

hkmurakami 6y ago

The building part was and is possible anywhere. People’s mindsets regarding investing and buying services from non consensus locations likely has dramatically changed.

ma2rten 6y ago

They never even said that. 1. Any YC advice does not apply to all companies, but only to startups. 2. YC has funded companies in many places. 3. YC is not in SF. 4. This announcement doesn't say anything about location.

fastball 6y ago
Re: point 1, what is a startup if not a company you are starting...
- cs-szazz 6y ago
  I generally subscribe to PG's definition of a startup, which is a company designed to grow fast: http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
  - btilly 6y ago
    I prefer Steve Blank's, an organization in search of a repeatable and scalable business model. See https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/ https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-prin... for more. The two definitions are equivalent though.

boatsie 6y ago

YC always required teams to move to the bay to maximize their success chances. But if almost everyone in tech is remote, then they aren’t losing ground compared to other companies working remote. It’s similar to saying “you have to be on site if you want to get promoted faster” when almost everyone is on site and you are the only remote person. When everyone is remote, the equation changes.

skeeter2020 6y ago
>> YC always required teams to move to the bay to maximize their success chances. I believe it is primarily to maximize your immersion and focus on your startup. If this is true remote will definitely not work as well. >> But if almost everyone in tech is remote. This is not true now, let alone in the next 6-12 months.

jedberg 6y ago

I would say that advice was applicable until March 2020. What will be interesting is if we move back towards in-person meetups or keep doing them online.