hey that's cool tricks to spare money! I hope we'll see your product at the top of HN one of these days :)
How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
51–60 of 120 posts
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#52Earlier 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?
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.
San Francisco is about 40% Asian -- they live everywhere!
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
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).
There's a lot of room between running out of money and earning loads. Say I was earning $15,000 per year from my startup. Costs were low and I could take most of that home but revenue wasn't growing. The business hasn't run out of money but it's not making enough to support me and I have to shut it down. Unless there is significant growth opportunity that I'm missing it's also unlikely to get bought.
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#54Living in one room with your founders and working in that same room (essentially staying in one place with no privacy 24/7) sounds horrible. I understand that there are benefits to being in SF but surely they can't be worth enough to make you want to live that way. It sounds like the artist who thinks he won't be good unless he starves first. There are other ways and for most people it's unnecessary. How about living 2-3 hours away so that you can still travel in for investor meetings - probably the biggest benefit of being in SF? Or doing some freelance work on the side?
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#55Earlier 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…
Well the whole "race" idea in humans is basically flawed, there are no biological races in our species [0].
Also, by saying Asian-American what do we mean? is it people with Chinese ancestors, or is it Japanese, or Indian, what about Russian?
[0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28human_classification%29
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#56If you really want to be rational about your company (no personal or business income tax), live cheaply relative to San Francisco, and yet be close to it, start your company in Reno, NV. Rents are 1/2 to 1/3rd of what they are in SF. There is a relatively large and growing tech scene (Gigafactory is being built in Reno, there are several drone startups, SNC does space/military stuff, IGT and Bally Technologies are also headquartered there). San Francisco is a 3.5 hour drive or a 45 minute flight. Even if you flew to San Francisco every week for meetings and rented a 4 bedroom house, you would save money over a 2 bedroom apartment in SF. Las Vegas (where I primarily live) is another great option, although it's further from SF and puts it out of driving range (1.5 hour direct flight to SF).
It seems irrational (and a disservice to investors) to start an Internet company that can be based anywhere in the Bay Area these days, especially if you plan on being successful. Say you personally net $10M on an exit. In Nevada you would only the 20% federal long-term capital gains tax, or $2M. In California, you pay the 20% federal tax plus 13.5% state income tax - your tax bill rises by 67.5%. That same $10M exit costs you $3.35M in taxes (not to mention the negative effects of CA's business income tax, higher payroll taxes, office rents, living expenses for employees, etc. on your valuation). Personally, I'd rather have the extra $1.35M in the bank or spend it on buying a bigger house or a few Ferraris than give it to Jerry Brown (plus I happen to like soda [1]). Mark Zuckerberg alone has paid a multi-billion dollar penalty for the mere privilege of living in California.
[1] http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/11/05/361793296/how-di...
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#57It's interesting how some people react negatively to this.
This is what young people who want to "make it big in the city" have done it for ages all over the planet. Just the city and the industry varies, but the story remains the same. Nothing about it is particular to SF or tech startups.
Sure, you may be able to achieve the same goals from a more comfortable place, but for many people that's missing out on 50% of the adventure. When it all comes down to it, these are the experiences that last, regardless of whatever failure or success follows.
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#58hey that's cool tricks to spare money! I hope we'll see your product at the top of HN one of these days :)
Glad to hear you found this somewhat useful. Keep me and HN in the loop if/when you're building something, too--looking forward.
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
The access to people you have here (for advices, fundraising, selling your company, etc.) can't be found anywhere else. That doesn't mean you can't do it anywhere else, but here it's just much easier.
So I guess everywhere around SF is also the same sort of price range? I mean I don't think Steve McClure cares too much if you had to drive 90 minutes to see him right? I'm just surprised at what people go to to be really in downtown SF. That money could arguably be better spent making sure that the founders/employees eat more than cup noodles for the first 6 months, if it means driving 90 minutes to go to meetings o…
Oakland and East Bay are generally cheaper. The peninsula down to Palo Alto and Mountain View is just as expensive as the city.
Re: How to Survive in SF as a Broke Startup
#60It's interesting how some people react negatively to this. This is what young people who want to "make it big in the city" have done it for ages all over the planet. Just the city and the industry varies, but the story remains the same. Nothing about it is particular to SF or tech startups. Sure, you may be able to achieve the same goals from a more comfortable place, but for many people that's missing out on 50% of…
But those people are usually seen as deluded fools and we've tried to protect them from the exploitation that they may face when they get to whatever big city.
I think you'd see the same negative reaction if this was a blog post telling would-be actors how to live cheap as waiters in Hollywood.