To all of the start-ups that want to base themselves out of Phoenix:<p>How do you plan on wooing applicants that may fall victim to racial profiling because they are within 100 miles of the border, or that might end up in one of Sheriff Joe's tent camps just due to being accused of something (or looking at one of his deputies the wrong way).<p>Do you not think that this limits your talent pool because many people of different ethnicities might not want to take the risk of relocating to such a hostile environment for them?
I generally avoid travelling to Arizona because I'm likely to be racially profiled and I don't feel like carrying my proof of residency around with me at all times. I've had plenty enough of that in my life already and don't feel the need to reward a state that seems to actively encourage it with my tax dollars.
I have lived in the mountains, about a two hour drive north of Phoenix, for 18 years. I love it here. My wife and I used to live near the beach in San Diego and the overcrowding and traffic made us want to leave. There is a lot to be said for low cost of living and beautiful and low population areas of the country. Travel is easy enough since I take a shuttle to the airport, I can work in transit.<p>We lived in Mountain View in 2013 when I consulted at Google, and I admit that was fun living there for a while, but life is very good in inexpensive low population areas. BTW, the mountains in Central Arizona are significantly cooler than Phoenix and we get a little snow in the winter which is fun.
I lived in Phoenix area for almost 20 years.<p>As Andrew Ross writes, Phoenix is one of the least sustainable cities in the world (1).<p>Flowing from its corrupt politics and supply-side economics, I suspect AZ will go the same way (for some of the same reasons) as Sam Browback's Kansas / Bobby Jindal's Louisiana with huge structural revenue deficits.<p>(1) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Fire-Lessons-Worlds-Sustainable/dp/0199975523" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Fire-Lessons-Worlds-Sustainable/...</a>
Some highlighted quotes:<p>"This year, the company opened a downtown Phoenix office with sales and customer service jobs. “San Francisco is a terrible place for entry-level people,” Mr. Coburn said, because the infrastructure and housing are “failing.”"<p>"But as the latest exodus gathers steam, these outlying cities hope some of the higher-paying engineering jobs will start moving as well.<p>“We don’t want to be San Francisco’s back office — we need more creators here,”"<p>This pretty much summarizes the article. Phoenix isn't yet seeing a mass influx of developer jobs, but it's hoping that because some companies already have offices there for other positions, they'll be able to lure some high-end talent as well.
Phoenix Startup Founder here. Central Phoenix is one of the best kept secrets in America - but after articles like this one the secret needs to get out. Central/downtown Phoenix, where many tech startups are located, allows a lifestyle and work environment that is unparalleled anywhere else in the country.<p>Cutting edge/super cheap hacker space incubator wet/dry labs- <a href="http://www.ceigateway.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.ceigateway.com</a>, <a href="http://www.seedspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.seedspot.com</a>, <a href="http://www.cohoots.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.cohoots.com</a><p>Great coffee/art/music/community- <a href="http://www.luxcoffee.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.luxcoffee.com</a>, <a href="http://www.artlinkphoenix.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.artlinkphoenix.com</a>, <a href="http://www.rooseveltrow.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.rooseveltrow.org</a>, <a href="http://www.valleybarphx.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.valleybarphx.com</a>, <a href="http://www.crescentphx.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.crescentphx.com</a><p>Gorgeous, walk-able, affordable historic districts- <a href="http://www.willohistoricdistrict.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.willohistoricdistrict.com</a>, <a href="http://www.windsorsquarephoenix.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.windsorsquarephoenix.com</a>, <a href="http://www.rooseveltneighborhood.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.rooseveltneighborhood.org</a><p>July and August are the only months with truly hot weather, but San Francisco is a 90 minute flight away, and its a quick weekend trip to San Diego and LA, and a day trip to Flagstaff where its 30 degrees cooler. June and September bring cooler pleasant mornings and evenings, you are generally in your office midday anyway. October until May is truly gorgeous, the best weather in the country.<p>Central Phoenix is one of the most liberal, inclusive, and open minded places in the country. Many from Phoenix are from someplace else originally so there is less of a nepotistic, "who you know" culture here than the Coasts. People here are extremely independent and very friendly.<p>Comparing urban Central Phoenix, where most startups are located, to to other towns an hour or more away in more suburban/rural areas is similar to comparing Palo Alto to a small agricultural town outside Silicon Valley. Its apples and oranges.
This reminds me of Tuft & Needle's pitch to set up shop in Phoenix rather than in Silicon Valley.[1]<p>[1] <a href="https://m.tuftandneedle.com/if-you-re-building-a-startup-you-need-to-move-to-phoenix-not-silicon-valley-a7505318cd45" rel="nofollow">https://m.tuftandneedle.com/if-you-re-building-a-startup-you...</a>
We're excited to be building our startup here in Phoenix. 8 months out of the year, the weather is fantastic. Burn rate is much lower than it would be in/around SF, our money goes much farther here. Great large public research institutions at ASU/UA is a great outlet for finding talent.
I hear a lot of talk about regressive politics in AZ.<p>What I see on the ground here is that people from all economic backgrounds can afford to work, live, and have a family. What I see up there is a set of NIMBY policies that restrict prosperity to the 1%.<p>PHX adopts policies welcoming middle-skill, middle-income people and families; fauxgressives in SF Bay give them the middle finger.
While yes, PHX metro is a more affordable option, no brand ever wants to be known as the low cost leader (we know this is never sustainable). Instead, my viewpoint as CEO of a young healthcare company is that PHX is ideal for us because of the industry experts in our space (aging) such as Banner Alzheimer's Institute and Barrow Neuro, access to our customer base (50+) and a theme of generosity of support for all startup founders. Then there's the development of new dev minds via our coding high schools, Galvanize, and UAT (as a few examples). Not to mention that this is the most livable place I've ever been.
There are so many economical, livable cities in the West within a 2-4 hour flight of SFO or SJC. Seattle is already too expensive, and I find Phoenix quite unpleasant, but Portland, Eugene (go Ducks!), Corvallis (go Beavs!), Spokane/Pullman (go Cougs!), Boise, Reno are all civilized, attractive, and relatively economical places.
I lived 3 years in Phoenix. Absolutely hated it. Won't ever move there and I actually avoid it for vacations as well. The weather is atrocious. The weather is only bad for 3 months is a nice sales pitch. But let me tell you that it gets to 100 early to mid May and lasts till September. So that's 5 months. Also, April and October remains hot during the day. In addition, as the article points out, most jobs are entry level jobs with low pay. Phoenix has very few fortune 500 companies, so if you are looking for strategic and interesting roles and moving up the corporate ladder, it is non existent. And the pay is laughable. Other things I didn't like - in your face politics, extremd bro culture, few places to visit, no interesting startup roles etc etc, but you get the point