Seems specious to me. SV is a centre for innovation because of two major things: Funding and Talent.
So firstly, it's unlikely that any VC's are going to move out because their personal rents are too high, while there's still the high concentration of talented people in the area. They might branch out to other locations, but personal choices over where to live are usually about far more than just money. So the Funding is unlikely to relocate.
It's possible they might start encouraging businesses to move further afield to increase their survivability, but ultimately a lot of founders will take <$30k salary when starting a company and accept any hardship in order to succeed. So suggesting that corporate finances at startups are suffering because of high rent is also a shaky premise. There may be a few borderline companies that fail "just before" they "would've made it big", but that'll be true at any burn rate.
If anything, investors probably like high rents because it forces higher burn rates and hence encourages startups to generate revenue or flip quickly. Either of which is preferable to a long, drawn out investment with no end in sight.
It's not like Detroit where a combination of cheaper manufacturing elsewhere and a lack of demand for US cars, led to necessary relocation/offshoring/downsizing.
I can't see there ever being a lack of demand for what SV produces. Businesses. Unless people start running out of ideas in and of themselves, I can't see how it'll die any time soon.
It's possible they might start encouraging businesses to move further afield to increase their survivability, but ultimately a lot of founders will take <$30k salary when starting a company and accept any hardship in order to succeed. So suggesting that corporate finances at startups are suffering because of high rent is also a shaky premise. There may be a few borderline companies that fail "just before" they "would've made it big", but that'll be true at any burn rate.
If anything, investors probably like high rents because it forces higher burn rates and hence encourages startups to generate revenue or flip quickly. Either of which is preferable to a long, drawn out investment with no end in sight.
It's not like Detroit where a combination of cheaper manufacturing elsewhere and a lack of demand for US cars, led to necessary relocation/offshoring/downsizing.
I can't see there ever being a lack of demand for what SV produces. Businesses. Unless people start running out of ideas in and of themselves, I can't see how it'll die any time soon.