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Stripe to move to South San Francisco

sfchronicle.com

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Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#301

Post by cellar_door »

gwbas1c wrote: post #165
dawg- wrote: post #149

I am not in the bay area, in fact I've never even been to the West Coast. So I am going to ask what may seem like a stupid question to some of you. I mean this in as polite a way as possible, but why wouldn't established companies like Stripe just fuck off to another city entirely? It's a successful company with a great product - that I'm sure many people would like to work for. They could surely lure talent from the…

I remember when Stripe emailed me as a job candidate. At the time, I was sitting in the bar directly behind their office, and basically replied that they (one of the Collison brothers) could come right now and have a beer with me. (I was sitting in the Rose and Crown, and they were in the office behind the Wine Room on the same block.) * > why wouldn't established companies like Stripe just ... off to another city en…

The Rose and Crown is in Palo Alto? So I guess they've already moved within the Bay before.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#302

Post by zten »

sneeze-slayer wrote: post #119

Are there good bike paths in San Franciso? It seems like the weather is good enough for year-round biking, which would be a big plus.

Well... their new office is on the SF2G Bayway route, but the whole area is absolutely unfriendly to bikes. Use Google Maps and look at the intersection of Gateway Blvd and Oyster Point Blvd. It's special.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#303

Post by rstupek »

AdieuToLogic wrote: post #196
nitrogen wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, issuer costs have no bearing on Merchant fees nor the profitability of processors. If this is true, then where does the cash back come from if not as a cut of the merchant fees?

> > Again, issuer costs have no bearing on Merchant fees nor the profitability of processors. > If this is true, then where does the cash back come from if not as a cut of the merchant fees? Interest rates + membership fees charged by issuers to Card Holders.

I don't think that is correct. Merchants are charged different rates based on the cash back rates of a given card. Merchants have to eat most of that cash back being given to the card holders.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#304

Post by secabeen »

freeAgent wrote: post #274
alexhutcheson wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any examples of a big company actually doing a gradual move this way? It doesn't seem like it would work. Satellite offices are tough to do right. It's very hard to build trust between individuals at the different offices without regular face-to-face contact. In the absence of this, you end up with negative relationships between teams at different sites: "The team in Springfield doesn't care about quality" vs. "Those…

Almost every successful medium- or large-sized company has done this. As they grow, they open new offices, which they seed with existing staff who are willing to either permanently or temporarily relocate. Most of the time those offices have specific areas of focus, at least when they're starting out. That way they minimize cross-geographic dependencies. To pick a totally non-random example, Stripe has followed this…

They did it, and they lost 25% of their of employees doing so: https://jalopnik.com/toyota-loses-25-percent-of-its-american...

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#306

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

cjlars wrote: post #5

Articles misses that this is in response to SF's gross receipts tax. Payment processing is an ultra low margin business, no way they can compete while paying ~1% of revenues to the city.

For a payment processor, does "gross receipts" include the full amount of the purchase, or just the amount that Stripe takes (e.g. 2.9% + $.30).

If it's the full amount of a purchase, not only is that insane, but it really feels like double dipping, as the seller would have to pay the tax on their receipts as well.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#307

Post by rstupek »

AdieuToLogic wrote: post #80
cjlars wrote: post #5

Articles misses that this is in response to SF's gross receipts tax. Payment processing is an ultra low margin business, no way they can compete while paying ~1% of revenues to the city.

> Payment processing is an ultra low margin business, no way they can compete while paying ~1% of revenues to the city. Stripe charges %2.9 + $0.30 per transaction. That is not an "ultra low margin" by any means in the CC processing domain. Actually, that is a massive markup when compared to other ISO's and VAR's. Depending on the Merchant's processor and their volume, significance, and sophistication, their Discount…

And not all of that 2.9% goes directly to stripes account, most of it is going to visa/mc/amex

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#308

Post by asveikau »

chondl wrote: post #47
asveikau wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, the airport is technically part of the City and County, while distinctly being south of it.

Actually it is in San Mateo county. Wikipedia: "the airport is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, despite it being located in San Mateo County."

Thanks then for the correction.

It is a little confusing for me that the city owns or administrates a number of sites outside of what we think of as "San Francisco". It's not been clear to me if you "re-enter San Francisco" when you go to those places. I figured yes. A number of them have signs posted at entry that the city owns it, so it feels like a natural conclusion to make, as if a "now entering..." sign.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#309

Post by asdff »

giarc wrote: post #166
PopeDotNinja wrote: post #23

I can tell you recruiting for South San Francisco was way harder than recruiting for SF. If I lived in SF without a car, that'd be a deal breaker for me. They're going to start losing people, or see a huge spike in chronic working from home. I guess they have to move somewhere at some point, and no move is without trade-offs. Regarding the gross receipts tax, couldn't they just move their HQ-on-paper to any place tha…

Google Maps tells me this is a 14 minute drive (old HQ to Oyster Point Park). 16-30 minutes if you want to arrive at 8am. Is that correct? Is that such a game changer? Do that many people not own vehicles or can't carpool to work?

Google maps work commute estimates in CA are not accurate at all. Probably looking at 30-45mins during rush hour which would be soul crushing if you've previously fought 20 other applicants for a year long lease at a place in walking distance of the old HQ

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#310

Post by gamblor956 »

paulie_a wrote: post #84
dmode wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is surely exaggerated right ? I know CEOs of large startups who live in mansions in Woodside, Berkeley, Mill Valley etc

My sample size is small but a company that raised 40 million and the CEO is considering leaving sv because his wife need to make rent with a roommate is not a great sign of the real estate. Sv isn't special. People are going to other tech hubs which are sprouting like crazy. Sv was when it made products. But sass can be done anywhere. People are leaving sv and housing prices are the reason. It's going to lead to brai…

I would believe that a random startup employee might be considering leaving SV due to rent.

I wouldn't believe that a CEO of a company that has raised $40 million is leaving because his wife needs a roommate to make rent. His wife should probably live with him if she needs to save money.

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