Entrepreneurs tell why they left Austin for California (apartment, lease)

[Topaz]

I would like to see this change, at least as much as possible...

"The University (of Texas) produces employees for Dell, not entrepreneurs..."

“Why I Moved My Company to California”

[Adamson865]

One of the CEOs was quoted:

"And, Serres said, he spends time at Napa, at Lake Tahoe “I have a great life (in California.)"

Which, if you're a CEO, is easy to do. California has a lot to do and see if you have the money and time to get around, which a CEO most probably does.

I'd be interested to know how many of his employees get to run off to Napa or Tahoe.

[Aquitaine]

Coppersmith pointed out that the thought leaders are in California.

I don't even know what that means.

“If you are in movies, you’re in L.A….if you’re in tech, you’re in Silicon Valley. It’s about getting access to the thought leaders.”

In other words, it's all about how things look and how they're hyped.

The entire thing is nothing more than a complaint about the absence of VC in Austin relative to the Bay Area. So what? We're no longer an economy where VC swoops in and subsidizes every stupid idea anyway.

If you're an investor looking to make a quick buck or to have the status that comes with being a successful venture capitalist, then yeah, don't go to Austin. But as an entrepreneur that has never taken outside money and that actually has to work in an office every day, I don't see any advantage to the Bay Area.

[centralaustinite]

The entire article is designed to generate page views! It is essentially SEO not journalism

[Adamson865]

An article I found in the WSJ last month (The Weekend Interview with Joel Kotkin: The Great California Exodus - WSJ.com) makes a number of points - if you have oodles of dollars, California is still a place to be, but the middle class is being squeezed out in droves. I'm one of them. The article does back up part of the thesis of the OP's article in that this is still a place for the wealthy entrepeneurs and the like, but for the rest of us who don't live off the state (either via salary or via benefits of some kind) it's becoming increasingly hard to afford staying.

I moved here nearly five years ago thinking I could "swing it" financially, but I finally had to throw in the towel - I'm just running out the clock until my apartment lease expires.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by rah62

I moved here nearly five years ago thinking I could "swing it" financially, but I finally had to throw in the towel - I'm just running out the clock until my apartment lease expires.

Same experience here. The first time I saw how well I could live in Texas compared to California, I decided that California makes an excellent vacation spot but not such a fabulous place to live full-time.

[Aquitaine]

Plus it's just anecdotal. The stats don't show companies moving TO California - there's been some equalization but with CA's budget almost double what they thought it was 6 months ago, there will be more on their way out.

I love California. It's the people running the place that make it unlivable.

[Adamson865]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

Plus it's just anecdotal. The stats don't show companies moving TO California - there's been some equalization but with CA's budget almost double what they thought it was 6 months ago, there will be more on their way out.

I love California. It's the people running the place that make it unlivable.

Budget *deficit*.

[scm53]

All of the evidence points to middle income people leaving Cali for Travis County, not the other way around.

This map is most instructive -- drawn from IRS data. It shows that in 2010, exactly ONE county in Cali got more TC residents than they sent -- Monterey county (Salinas) -- sent 17, got 31. The interesting fact is the incomes -- per capita to Travis County, $53K. From here? $15K. We can make those trades all day long -- send out the $15K earners, attract the $53K earners.

Other counties show the same thing. LA county, 850 out, per capita income $48K. Travis to there -- 502, income $26K. Sandy Eggo -- 469, $30K, vice 259 and $29K.

So, there is anecdotal evidence of movement from here to there, at the high end. But the macro evidence is completely to the contrary.

[CarnivalGal]

The impression I got from the article was that the young talent in Austin are a bunch of slackers. And as someone who used to hire people for a living, I have to say I agree.

"'Stanford graduates,' he said, 'come out with a mission in life to “quit after their second year of work and become the next Google….'" In my experience, kids here don't ever want to work so hard that they can quit after their second year. They think they should be able to just slack off from the get-go without doing anything to earn it. They are too hip, too cool, too "special" to have to work 60 hours a week or wear anything other than flip-flops to work. When they start their own Facebook, they can do that. Until then, they need to earn their stripes.