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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

#361

Post by jeffFrom18F »

charlesju wrote: post #250
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…

1. San Francisco is really nice. It's 87 degrees today at the end of October. There is good food, decent public transportation, culture, ocean, forests, etc. It doesn't snow here or get blistering hot, so productivity is very steady year round. 2. Because San Francisco is very nice (perhaps) and we have good schools around here. A lot of hires come from UCB, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and other UCs. Those account for sever…

> decent public transportation

Nope

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#362

Post by freeAgent »

secabeen wrote: post #304
freeAgent wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

A sizable portion of that 25% were people who decided to retire (early), but yeah...it was massively expensive. They also offered very, very generous moving packages to everyone who did relocate along with early retirement packages for those who stayed.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#363

Post by toast0 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #324
darawk wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, taxing payroll is just as stupid. You tax net income, because it's normalized across businesses. Taxing payroll or revenue is just economic nonsense.

Net income isn't normalized across businesses. Most businesses aim for net income. Most startups don't even try, even if they've raised hundreds of millions of dollars and occupy fancy offices. (It's also very easy for IP-based businesses to shift where income is generated.) And that's the basic reasoning behind SF's gross proceeds tax. It's a uniquely SV tax that only works because so many unicorns built their house…

Sure, a net income tax doesn't tax the VC fueled companied sending people $2 for $1. But it would tax the owners of the fancy office they're renting for an absurd amount. And it would tax the catering service that's coming in 3x a day. And it may tax the office supply firm that's selling them the fancy chairs (maybe, not sure if office supply warehouses are in SF or on the peninsula).

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#364

Post by opportune »

baby wrote: post #82

These days I was thinking about San Francisco and wondering how it had come to that. There’s so much demand, so many people want to move to SF, yet its population has barely moved in the last decade. Why is that? If anything had gone right, SF should be a HK-like dystopian city filled with electronics and high-tech. But instead we have a horizontally limited place, that is filled with homeless and restricts new advan…

Turns out if you don’t build new buildings, there’s not really anywhere to put new people. You just start losing quality of life as rents go up and people start doubling up in rooms, families move out (because you can’t afford roommates who don’t pay rent), etc.

This is what the voters here wanted and have been voting for the entire time. Not that I like the outcome either, but considering SF is a pretty wealthy and culturally influential place, I don’t feel sorry for them in the least. It’s just the outcome of decades of policy with public support.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#365

Post by psychometry »

pc wrote: post #296

Stripe cofounder here. Quick comment to say that we're excited about the move. South San Francisco is a cooperative and open-minded city. In being an infrastructure company, we have to take a long-term view, and we think this can be a good for many years. And while the Bay is tricky from a commuting standpoint no matter what the location, the the presence of a marina right beside this site opens up a lot of interesti…

I know your compliance issues are complex compared to most companies and not everyone can work remotely, but why not keep the smaller office and rely more on remote workers?

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#366

Post by newfangle »

majormajor wrote: post #291
friedman23 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are still lying $500k, what’s the point of that move ? I think you mistyped here. The point of the move is that $500k in San Francisco vs $500k in any other city in the US (except New York) result in substantially different qualities of life. $500k a year income in Miami can get you a mortgage on a 3 bedroom house and a boat. In SF, you get a mortgage on a 1 bedroom apartment.

The company wouldn't move if it still had to pay 500K. 500K in SF gets you a smaller place and plenty of discretionary income. Companies in other places can often give you a house, but not match the discretionary income.

Why not?

Pay your engineers 500k in a medium cost of living city and you will have the best employee retention of any company once they get used to their quality of life.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#367

Post by hectorr1 »

charlesju wrote: post #250
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…

1. San Francisco is really nice. It's 87 degrees today at the end of October. There is good food, decent public transportation, culture, ocean, forests, etc. It doesn't snow here or get blistering hot, so productivity is very steady year round. 2. Because San Francisco is very nice (perhaps) and we have good schools around here. A lot of hires come from UCB, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and other UCs. Those account for sever…

It's not hard - just build more housing. Prop 13 and local politics make this so much harder than necessary.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#368

Post by electricslpnsld »

citilife wrote: post #311
pc wrote: post #296

Stripe cofounder here. Quick comment to say that we're excited about the move. South San Francisco is a cooperative and open-minded city. In being an infrastructure company, we have to take a long-term view, and we think this can be a good for many years. And while the Bay is tricky from a commuting standpoint no matter what the location, the the presence of a marina right beside this site opens up a lot of interesti…

Having lived in Alameda (ferry to work daily), gotta say nice location. I only apply for jobs which I can ferry to and it'll definitely enable employees at Stripe live in more affordable locations.

Perk of the Ferry: donuts and beer...

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#369

Post by spaceandshit »

goobynight wrote: post #249
mc32 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boeing moved, many companies based in NYC moved out of the city in the 80s, 90s. It’s not extremely hard, but it is disruptive. When the exodus happens it’ll start as a trickle and by the time people take notice half the cos will have reduced occupancy. After certain stage it’s more about managing growth than about R&D, so you can find most of the talent you need in alternate markets.

I feel like Boeing has far more of a monopoly on hiring the kind of talent they need than Stripe. They also seem like a place that has more "lifers". Stripe engineers can just say "no thanks" and go work for SF company n+1 down the road. Does Boeing have competition in the same city that could reasonably hire Boeing knowledge workers? Honest question.

There are a few in the Puget Sound such as Blue Origin, Collins Aerospace, SpaceX and some other smaller ones. Your point is valid though.

Re: Stripe to move to South San Francisco

#370

Post by carpol »

I find it disappointing that Stripe is moving to a development that is a housing wasteland.

Oyster Point was slated for 1,200 housing units, but biotech opposed them.

> The residential development proposal was met by resistance from representatives of the life sciences industry though, with claims residents living in the area could make it less attractive to businesses.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/new-builder-buys-o...

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