another major part of the problem is the entitled, defocused employee culture in silicon valley. generated by the fact that crazy talent competition ensures employees have a huge safety net in the form of big tech.
i raise capital in silicon valley. but i do not want to hire people there.
i hire amazing engineers in russia at a fraction of the cost and they:
- are loyal instead of jumping to new shiny stuff at every opportunity.
- have skin in the game
- are focused on building products and not on things like "we need to hire more female engineers even though none are applying."
and lifestyle-wise the bay area is just unpleasant. aggressive homeless people. abysmal dating environment. awful traffic.
and of course the costs, taxes etc. top it all off.
that being said in terms of concentration of smart people that one can connect with at a moment's notice, and in terms of fundraising, the Bay Area is absolutely unparalleled.
my conclusion is to spend couple months a year there but live and hire elsewhere.
i raise capital in silicon valley. but i do not want to hire people there.
i hire amazing engineers in russia at a fraction of the cost and they: - are loyal instead of jumping to new shiny stuff at every opportunity. - have skin in the game - are focused on building products and not on things like "we need to hire more female engineers even though none are applying."
and lifestyle-wise the bay area is just unpleasant. aggressive homeless people. abysmal dating environment. awful traffic.
and of course the costs, taxes etc. top it all off.
that being said in terms of concentration of smart people that one can connect with at a moment's notice, and in terms of fundraising, the Bay Area is absolutely unparalleled.
my conclusion is to spend couple months a year there but live and hire elsewhere.