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The little things I learned in the valley

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Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#31

Post by orky56 »

ar7hur wrote: post #5

> Palo Alto, Mountain View etc. are no more part of Silicon Valley Seems somewhat exaggerated to me. There's definitely a shift from the valley to the city (and Palantir eating up all available space in PA sure catalyzes this process), but I wouldn't say PA/MV are "no more part of SV".

The sexy, consumer-focused startups are in SF and where people want to be. Down in Mountain View & Palo Alto is where the VCs, unsexy B2B startups (Box), and accelerators (YC/500) are thriving. 20 something bachelors & DINCs want to live in the city where it's fun and happening whereas mothers/fathers would rather raise a family in the suburbia of the peninsula. I won't deny the trend towards SF as VCs and accelerators are making a presence there but most are not replacing their HQs in the peninsula.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#32

Post by dllthomas »

untog wrote: post #26
dntrkv wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that the two are mutually exclusive? Solving homelessness is not an economic problem. There are so many factors involved, that you can have a great economy with low unemployment but tons of homeless people.

Getting to 0% homelessness would require more than just economic action, but homelessness is still an economic issue.

Only in the sense that everything is an economic issue. My understanding is that mental illness is still the leading cause of homelessness.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#33

Post by kyro »

What was most off putting on my last trip to SF was the juxtaposition of the yuppie and homeless worlds. It wasn't uncommon to see long lines for local chic coffee shops full of young, well-to-do individuals while the homeless begged, urinated and defacated on the same stretch of sidewalk to often no acknowledgement by the former group.

I live in NYC so I see homeless people every day, but here you don't see such an unsettling and stark contrast between them and the non-homeless.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#34

Post by nlh »

legohead wrote: post #17

My first impressions of San Francisco were quite opposite of yours -- it was ugly, dirty, smelly and scary. I went for a conference and was in a nice hotel downtown. I went out to grab some dinner at night and couldn't wait to get back, lots of weirdos out on the street. I've been to cities all over the world and never felt as uncomfortable as I did in SF. Maybe I just got unlucky that night...

What the others said. I had similar experiences for basically the first 10 years of my visits to SF - I never really got beyond the Moscone Center / The W Hotel / 3rd Street and that 10-square-block area was my impression of SF.

But having lived here now for almost 2 years, that impression is just so wrong. It's a TINY fraction of SF, and that is not what SF is about. Next time you're here, find a boutique hotel in the Marina, or Pacific Heights, or Russian Hill, or the Mission and Uber over to your conference/meetings (the city's small enough that it's $10-$15 each way).

That's the SF that people love (or hate ;)

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#35

Post by dntrkv »

untog wrote: post #26
dntrkv wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that the two are mutually exclusive? Solving homelessness is not an economic problem. There are so many factors involved, that you can have a great economy with low unemployment but tons of homeless people.

Getting to 0% homelessness would require more than just economic action, but homelessness is still an economic issue.

Yes because the crazy guy outside my office yelling at the brick wall just needs a job, and he'll be living in a home in no time.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#36

Post by smacktoward »

beat wrote: post #21
josefresco wrote: post #6

"Quite a few companies are built by people who have no passion for that business. They are in the axis mundi to strike gold. It makes me sad." Worked or is working for Tony Hsieh @Zappos who couldn't give a crap about shoes. I realize the author is actually talking about start-up founders and not CEO's of successful corporations, but we should be weary of the advice that you must be passionate about your market/produ…

You don't need to be passionate about the product of your business. Tony Hsieh may not care that much about shoes, but he cares tremendously about customer service and employee satisfaction. He's not making happy shoes, he's making happy customers and happy employees. Frankly, lots of businesses don't require "passion" in the eros sense about the product. One doesn't become passionate about dry cleaning, or transmiss…

> If you want to make money, become really good at doing something that doesn't inspire passion, preferably something that most people really hate or fear.

Excellent point. The British have a saying for this: "where there's muck, there's brass." (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/where-the...)

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#37

Post by arethuza »

orky56 wrote: post #24
legohead wrote: post #17

My first impressions of San Francisco were quite opposite of yours -- it was ugly, dirty, smelly and scary. I went for a conference and was in a nice hotel downtown. I went out to grab some dinner at night and couldn't wait to get back, lots of weirdos out on the street. I've been to cities all over the world and never felt as uncomfortable as I did in SF. Maybe I just got unlucky that night...

Union Square is one of the most touristy parts yet with a couple wrong turns you're in some very sketchy areas.

I remember once being a hotel ~15 years ago that was 5 or 6 blocks along (I think) Geary from Union Square - when I told the taxi driver where I wanted to go he said "Do you really want to go there?".

The direction I got from the chap on reception were interesting - basically walk up the hill two blocks and along and back down to Union Square - he was very clear on not walking directly to Union Square. Of course, I did try walking directly back myself late one night - took taxis after that!

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#38

Post by happyscrappy »

josefresco wrote: post #8
supahfly_remix wrote: post #4

> A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this. Does he mean a startup to help him avoid streets with homeless, or a startup to solve the homeless problem?

I certainly hope we wasn't referring to a startup to help you avoid the homeless. Taken in context, I believe he's referring to the widening income gap and would therefore not be advocating simply avoiding them. A startup to fix the homeless problem? Good luck.

Homelessness is an amazingly intractable problem. In Boston even though crews are dispatched to bring the homeless to shelters during cold snaps they still die on the street because you can't forcibly make them get into the van.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#39

Post by untog »

dntrkv wrote: post #35
untog wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting to 0% homelessness would require more than just economic action, but homelessness is still an economic issue.

Yes because the crazy guy outside my office yelling at the brick wall just needs a job, and he'll be living in a home in no time.

But that's my point. Only 39% of homeless people have mental issues[1]. It's not correct to characterise homelessness as caused by mental problems.

[1] http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/526/homeless-facts.html

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#40

Post by throwaway13qf85 »

nlh wrote: post #34
legohead wrote: post #17

My first impressions of San Francisco were quite opposite of yours -- it was ugly, dirty, smelly and scary. I went for a conference and was in a nice hotel downtown. I went out to grab some dinner at night and couldn't wait to get back, lots of weirdos out on the street. I've been to cities all over the world and never felt as uncomfortable as I did in SF. Maybe I just got unlucky that night...

What the others said. I had similar experiences for basically the first 10 years of my visits to SF - I never really got beyond the Moscone Center / The W Hotel / 3rd Street and that 10-square-block area was my impression of SF. But having lived here now for almost 2 years, that impression is just so wrong. It's a TINY fraction of SF, and that is not what SF is about. Next time you're here, find a boutique hotel in t…

So your advice is - to enjoy SF, stay in the expensive areas, and get a taxi if you need to go through the poor areas, or the parts where there might be homeless people?
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