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A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#61

Post by cryptoz »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #48
stevecalifornia wrote: post #7

Move to Washington State. Don't pay California income tax. Instant 8% boost to your take-home pay.

From someone outside the US, I'm amazed that states vary their income tax so much, I would have thought it's a magnet for fraud and corruption.

> From someone outside the US, I'm amazed that states vary their income tax so much, I would have thought it's a magnet for fraud and corruption.

It is. Roads in the Bay Area are among the worst in the country, despite this region producing enormous corporate profits. Nearly all the companies here operate in an eternal tragedy of the commons, whereby nobody will pay local taxes because nobody else does. All the companies in California are actually Delaware companies, and the income inequality and quality-of-life disparity is a direct result of this kind of corruption.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#62

Post by WalterSear »

lostcolony wrote: post #58
WalterSear wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if you are a developer. Work is very easy to come by, though the vast majority is nowhere near as innovative or exciting as it once was here. I can't help thinking that this move by Zapier is a way to reduce turnover. I have several friends who smugly relocated away from the bay area, who now hate their jobs and can't leave them because there are no local opportunities. Working remotely may be different, but the…

That's silly. Find a job elsewhere willing to pay them to relocate again.

And interview, how? And find it, how? Who will recommend them? You're asking why they don't just eat cake.

These things aren't impossible, just so much harder that my friends (One in Idaho, one in Kansas) haven't been able to manage it, and not for lack of trying.

It has been hard to watch them floundering and begging for help I don't have to give.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#64

Post by salimmadjd »

Interesting podcast. I didn't know about Zapier so I checked out their website.

It took me like 5-10 minutes to understand what they do. It was only after seeing the Gmail(attachment) > DropBox > Slack I understood what they really do. Which is very cool.

I have one need. I want a quick way of converting a list of stuff on slack into todo list with ability to check off the task as they're completed. OR if I can have a keyword --TODO-- --END-- in gmail and turn it into a todo list. Will Zapier allow something like this?

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#65

Post by bcantrill »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #21
dgfgfdagasdfgfa wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denver is even better—competitive wages w/ washington & lower cost of living.

There's a fire-hose of Californians directed at CO. In a decade or two they will have recreated the place they left.

You're either new to Colorado or ignorant of your (adopted?) state's history: this phenomenon is as old as Colorado itself, dating back to the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859. You're welcome to complain about the people who followed you, of course (a phenomenon that's also as old as Colorado), but please do not pretend that you have an exclusive concession on a state that its inhabitants have been redefining since before you were born.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#66

Post by tomschlick »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #48
stevecalifornia wrote: post #7

Move to Washington State. Don't pay California income tax. Instant 8% boost to your take-home pay.

From someone outside the US, I'm amazed that states vary their income tax so much, I would have thought it's a magnet for fraud and corruption.

If it helps, think of the US as structured like the EU. Lots of common laws but lots that vary from state to state in the details (just like the separate countries).

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#67

Post by myrandomcomment »

jpao79 wrote: post #42

He (and Sam Altman for all YC companies) should have the startup(s) all de-locate to the same town that's within driving distance of the Silicon Valley. I bet you could convince a lot of tech people to move to Santa Cruz or Monterey. You could also recruit from UC Santa Cruz and Cal Poly. Both downtown Santa Cruz and downtown Monterey feel pretty small town urban-y. Plus the Silicon Valley VC's can play golf at Pebbl…

I lived in Menlo Park for 8 years with my family. When I moved there the startup I went to work for was a 5 minute walk from my house. My current startup is also in Menlo. A year ago my wife and wanted a larger place. We looked in Menlo and PA. $3M for a teardown / needs tons of work. After thinking about it we started to look outside of the area. School district was a key factor of course. We ending up going as far up the mountain from Los Gatos as we could and still be in the school district. $1.3M+500K remodel. Half of my companies employees are remote. We use G-apps with Meeting and Slack. It works well. I drive into the office 2 days a week timing the drive to be outside of traffic hows. 50KM drive outside of traffic is 30 minutes, with traffic is 1.5 hours. I have friends that moved to Morgan Hill, Gilroy and take the CalTrain in. We other developers relocate out of state because of the cost of living. The cost of housing in the main areas is stupid, even if you can afford it. Menlo and PA are doing NOTHING to support the high density housing required to make things better.

I agree there is something unique about being able to have everyone around you in the same line of business (tech) and it is great for making contacts, etc. However the cost are really starting to outweigh the benefits.

The bay area needs to look to places like Tokyo as an example of how to build out from the trains to the housing.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#68

Post by logfromblammo »

tehlike wrote: post #53
tmh79 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the salaries are not due to cost of living, they are due to a competetive labor market.

Positive feedback loop.

High cost of living because competitive labor market. Competitive labor market because high cost of living.

You could break the vicious circle from either end. Build more houses, costs go down, more immigrants attracted, wages go down and costs go back up. Destroy local jobs, wages go down, fewer immigrants attracted, costs go down and wages go back up.

Every tech company that moves out eases the pressure, but that part about wages going down is tough for some people to swallow.

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#69

Post by ringaroundthetx »

ThePawnBreak wrote: post #30
bryanh wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We will not adjust your salary downwards if you take the "delocation package".

Does that mean that location is not taken into account for salaries, or does it mean that if I start in Croatia I get $30k, but if an American starts in the Bay Area and relocates to Croatia, he'll get $120k plus a $10k bonus while I'm still getting $30k?

Of course, why do you ask?

Re: A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay

#70

Post by logfromblammo »

WalterSear wrote: post #57
EduardoBautista wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And going out to restaurants and bars.

That's lifestyle, not cost of living. There are plenty of good, cheap restaurants and bars in the city. I know: I frequent them. I will give you that the number of outrageously priced restaurants and bars in SF has increased. People just don't seem to give a fuck about piling on debt. I think the insane cost of rent has had a psychological effect on incoming people. Or perhaps some other social phenomenon that brings…

That's still lifestyle. Say "grocery stores" instead of "restaurants" and now we're talking cost of living.
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