Go for San Francisco:<p>1. <i>Space</i> The rents are actually in many cases less here than in other parts of the valley. (My office is $1 per s.f. per month!) A huge building boom is finishing up in the SOMA area of the City with hundreds (maybe 1000+) new apartments entering the market. This is good news for downward pressure on rental prices.<p>2. <i>Convenience</i>: Within walking distance of both my office and my apartment are countless restaurants, markets, office supplies, banks, etc etc. You can simply walk to what you need saving <i>so</i> much time over driving around on errands in rush hour traffic in the South Bay. There are countless take-out food restaurants open until late at night to keep you coding with a reasonable diet, with many delivering to your door. (Chinese takeout costs about $7 for a main item - roughly $10 for a meal)<p>3. <i>Coolness</i>: There are a lot of web companies in the city because it is such a great place to live. Attracting hackers to work for you may be easier here.
Even the Large Corporate Web companies are setting up major operations in the City:<p><a href="http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/01/15/story22.html">http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/01/15/story22.html</a>
<a href="http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2005/08/yahoo_leasing_san_francisco_of.html">http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2005/08/yahoo_leasing_san_francisco_of.html</a><p>4. <i>Life Style</i>: For those moments when you're not all-nightering on a problem, you have many options here:
a. Sailing in the Bay
b. Biking - across the Golden Gate and you are into nature in no time.
c. Beach - Many beaches in the area
d. Skiing - As close as 2.5 - 3 hours away for some great slopes.
d. Symphony/Opera/Theater/Movies galore, etc etc etc
e. Night Life - Live music, etc etc etc.
f. Wine Country - Only an hour drive to Napa County/Sonoma County - countless vineyards - great wine.<p>5. <i>Variety</i>: San Francisco has many different neighborhoods that have entirely different cultures. A few blocks in different directions will let you experience the unexpected. (Usually good, ocassionally bad)<p>6. Ok, you're right, I'm biased. I love living in the City.<p>7. Downside: The VC's and many angels are in the South Bay, but thats only a 30-40 min. drive away - or Caltrain ride.
The Yscraper is in a lame part of San Francisco, if you are a young person. The building is lame, too... unless you like living in an apartment that is like a college dorm or old folks home. <p>Regarding SF vs Palo Alto. SF is way more fun. But keep in mind historical patterns. How many successful startups have been started in SF? How many have been started up in the valley? <p>Valley based startups are more successful, simply because there is nothing else to do down there.
I think it depends on the focus of your startup. My perception is that SF is more media-centric, with lots of designers and media professionals, while South Bay is more "nerdy" and enterprise-centric, with lots of hardcore hackers. <p>Regarding "where to live": I currently live in Mountain View, but I would move to SF if I could afford (although MV is not that cheap either!). SF is an awesome city.
I live in Mountain View and go to SF for fun, of which there is plenty to be had.<p>Rent is a factor of course. I'm currently in a nice 2-bed town-house close to downtown mv, for $1700/month.
Has anyone ever been slightly anxious with regards to the city, and then gotten over it? I grew up in a small town and whenever I go into sf, I just don't like it all that much. (I suspect this has something to do with the area of town around the Warfield, Fillmore, GAMS, etc). Is there anywhere that its easy to keep (and work on) a car while still being fairly connected to the rest of the city?
I find Mountain View a good fit. Close enough to investors. Far enough away from anything resembling real night-life (because I'm here to work...really, really, work). I'll move to the city when I don't want to work anymore. I'm sure the city works for some startups, but I don't think it would work for me.
I'm moving to Silicon Valley to work on my startup and be closer to the entrepreneurial community. Should I rent in San Francisco or somewhere around Stanford? How about the YScraper?