I think that for medium sized (250+) tech companies with solid funding it starts to just become difficult to NOT be recruiting in the Bay Area simply because th

I think that for medium sized (250+) tech companies with solid funding it starts to just become difficult to NOT be recruiting in the Bay Area simply because there are so many engineers constantly churning and the statistics start to work against you without including the area in your talent pool. That said, for smaller companies, I still believe the chances of getting everyone under the same roof are much higher in the SFBA as well as in other large, dense cities; only a few of which exist in the US and none of them being particularly cheap. There's a reason successful companies are willing to continue to pay the premium decade after decade for locating in big cities: it's worth it. Overall though I think the point Alex was trying to make is that the exact location is unlikely to be a make or break for early stage startups. Pick a city with a solid background in your chosen field and it can be a launchpad for a successful company.