How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#31

Post by zingar » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:17 AM UTC

robin_reala wrote: post #27

dijit wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sometimes people downvote for no reason. the reason you're not getting replies is likely because the US are asleep though. I think it's a valid question- although it's probably more about causation; Asian-Americans are less snobbish when it comes to areas to live, my assumption is that they live in area's that Americans wouldn't want to live anyway.

Are ‘Asian-Americans’ not ‘Americans’ in the first place?

You seem to be saying that race shouldn't matter. But how can we discuss this paragraph (about a neighbourhood that is different where the only reason given for that is race) without exploring what race means in that context?

(personally, I don't agree in any context, race matters in pretty much every context in the world because discrimination based on race is present in every context, and to ignore it only allows that discrimination to continue)

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#32

Post by wlimdo » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:17 AM UTC

abalone wrote: post #18

Tradeoff: Living with your cofounders in the dining room of your office might possibly, you know, increase stress and strain among the group. Also that's a lot of time spent making meals. I doubt he's including researching recipes, shopping & cleaning up for 3 meals a day in his 1 hr/day estimate.

Good points. I'd only suggest living with co-founders if you know them well enough and can jive on a regular schedule. I mean, if you get sick of your co-founder, maybe he/she wasn't a match in the first place?

As for the time preparing the meal (from researching recipes to cleaning up), I'd say it can take less than 1.5 hrs per day total. Imagine buying in bulk, cooking a large, delicious stew that can last a couple days (just warm up the meals in a microwave), and voila. Time and money saved.

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#33

Post by rtpg » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:22 AM UTC

neodude wrote: post #30

peter422 wrote: post #6

You can start a failed company in a lot of cities. Congrats on living in sf on the cheap but it really isn't useful information to help aspiring startup founders.

Running out of money is the most common way for a startup to die, so successfully living in SF on the cheap certainly mitigates that.

i would say that running out of money is the only way for a startup to die. I haven't heard of a company earning loads of money closing down (except when being bought out or something).

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#34

Post by davidw » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:27 AM UTC

zingar wrote: post #19

Interesting. To live here in South Africa on those numbers you'd have to make similar sacrifices, in an economy which I normally regard as 10x cheaper than (what I've heard of) SF. Some questions: 1. When I hear people on this site talking about "low" startup engineer wages in SF, the numbers I see are 60k - 80k / year. But this article makes that number look like glorious riches by comparison. Living in the dining r…

It's not so much about it being Asian, but the Outer Sunset is about as far away you can get from "the action" and still be in San Francisco. Also, it's colder and foggier than points east.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Outer+Sunset,+San+Francisc...

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#35

Post by jacalata » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:40 AM UTC

zingar wrote: post #31

robin_reala wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are ‘Asian-Americans’ not ‘Americans’ in the first place?

You seem to be saying that race shouldn't matter. But how can we discuss this paragraph (about a neighbourhood that is different where the only reason given for that is race) without exploring what race means in that context? (personally, I don't agree in any context, race matters in pretty much every context in the world because discrimination based on race is present in every context, and to ignore it only allows t…

I read him as saying that in a conversation about race, why is it ok to pretend that one race is "normal people".

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#36

Post by schoolixer » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:42 AM UTC

zingar wrote: post #23

zingar wrote: post #19

Interesting. To live here in South Africa on those numbers you'd have to make similar sacrifices, in an economy which I normally regard as 10x cheaper than (what I've heard of) SF. Some questions: 1. When I hear people on this site talking about "low" startup engineer wages in SF, the numbers I see are 60k - 80k / year. But this article makes that number look like glorious riches by comparison. Living in the dining r…

Maybe I'm misunderstanding how this site works (had this account for years but only commented a few times). It looks like my comment was downvoted, can someone explain why? Is thinking about stereotypes offensive? Or it was deemed irrelevant?

In short, it s because you seem to assume that the description of the neighborhood given was also the reason why it is cheaper. (It isn't, the reason is because its way the away from the center of town with almost nothing but residential areas).

Generally stereotypes as a concept are considered inherently pejorative in the USA.

Secondly, your inference that people are avoiding the neighborhood is because of the local population. People aren't avoiding the area, the neighborhood is mostly staying the same. Large numbers of people moving into a neighborhood is the exception to the norm. Particularly in San Francisco where there are protections on existing residents such as rent control.

Thirdly, in the USA we would view asian-american as a cultural description, or nationality description, rather than as a racial description. When someone says 'asian grocery store' they don't typically mean 'because asian people shop there,' but a place where foods sold in asia are more available. This point of view would be particularly so in the bay area worldview. In the USA, it is generally considered offensive/patronizing to compliment people based on their race for any reason. People want to be recognized for their abilities on an individual level, or because of some meritocratic reason.

I could go on, but the other reasons are more or less permutations of the above.

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#37

Post by sfjailbird » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:50 AM UTC

schoolixer wrote: post #36

zingar wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding how this site works (had this account for years but only commented a few times). It looks like my comment was downvoted, can someone explain why? Is thinking about stereotypes offensive? Or it was deemed irrelevant?

In short, it s because you seem to assume that the description of the neighborhood given was also the reason why it is cheaper. (It isn't, the reason is because its way the away from the center of town with almost nothing but residential areas). Generally stereotypes as a concept are considered inherently pejorative in the USA. Secondly, your inference that people are avoiding the neighborhood is because of the local…

> you seem to assume that the description of the neighborhood given was also the reason why it is cheaper

The OP wrote: "Sure, it’s 80% Chinese American, but [it's cheaper]". That made me wonder too why the ethnicity would be a drawback.

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#38

Post by robin_reala » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 9:57 AM UTC

zingar wrote: post #31

robin_reala wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are ‘Asian-Americans’ not ‘Americans’ in the first place?

You seem to be saying that race shouldn't matter. But how can we discuss this paragraph (about a neighbourhood that is different where the only reason given for that is race) without exploring what race means in that context? (personally, I don't agree in any context, race matters in pretty much every context in the world because discrimination based on race is present in every context, and to ignore it only allows t…

Actually, it was purely a semantic objection: if race is important then why not ‘European-Americans’?

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#39

Post by benzesandbetter » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 10:05 AM UTC

Here's another idea: Do like 2 days a month of consulting and move to a more desirable zip code.

Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup

#40

Post by edpichler » Thu, Nov 06, 2014, 10:09 AM UTC

zingar wrote: post #23

zingar wrote: post #19

Interesting. To live here in South Africa on those numbers you'd have to make similar sacrifices, in an economy which I normally regard as 10x cheaper than (what I've heard of) SF. Some questions: 1. When I hear people on this site talking about "low" startup engineer wages in SF, the numbers I see are 60k - 80k / year. But this article makes that number look like glorious riches by comparison. Living in the dining r…

Maybe I'm misunderstanding how this site works (had this account for years but only commented a few times). It looks like my comment was downvoted, can someone explain why? Is thinking about stereotypes offensive? Or it was deemed irrelevant?

Don't worry. This always happens to me.