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I currently live in Maui, Hawaii. My business partner and I have launched a successful web startup over the past year. We are considering relocating to California this year to find better talent for our company. My business partner and I are torn between Southern California and the Bay Area.
My wife and I are laid back surfers with dogs, and prefer warm weather and sunshine (that includes warmer water temperature). I'm a web/graphic designer, and she is a wedding photographer. We are in our mid to late 20's, and interested in starting a family within the next couple years. We both have family and friends in the L.A. and OC areas. I love the beach, and prefer to live within walking distance to it (though I can settle for a short drive). Currently, we are leaning heavily towards the Orange County and San Diego areas. We personally prefer San Diego, but love areas of both. Our businesses aren't our lives, just a part of it.
My business partner prefers the Bay Area. He's a single guy who likes the outdoors, but not particularly surfing. He has a friend in Oakland, and business is pretty much his life. He hasn't ventured south of Huntington Beach, and has only been to SoCal briefly on one occasion. His impression of SoCal seems to be L.A. and the media, which doesn't leave the best impression.
The issue is, we don't want to split the company over a location dispute. Business wise, I think we can source the talent we need in SoCal or NoCal. So, my question is, is there an area of SoCal (sans L.A.) with a culture and lifestyle similar to the Bay Area that my business partner could connect with? My wife and I have been to the Bay Area on multiple occasions and can't connect with the northern lifestyle.
We are considering relocating to California this year to find better talent for our company. My business partner and I are torn between Southern California and the Bay Area.
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It depends...what kind of people are positions are you trying to fill when you say "talent". San Francisco has TONS of talent, especially in start ups and tech companies so there will be a much bigger pool of people there if you have a start up.
Definitely I think you can find people in San Diego, depending on what you are looking to fill but the pool of talent and sheer numbers will always be higher in the Bay area.
I really enjoy both cities, but like you, I prefer San Diego. I also think it's better for raising kids if you live in a nicer area. San Francisco is great and we go every year for vacation but I'd rather live in San Diego.
I prefer San Diego as well, but I am also in the internet business, and can say, without a doubt, Bay Area is where you want to be if you classify yourself as a startup. The funding, talent, connections, are all there. You want to pick up an ex-Yahoo or an ex-Facebooker, San Diego might as well be Des Moines.
I currently live in Maui, Hawaii. My business partner and I have launched a successful web startup over the past year. We are considering relocating to California this year to find better talent for our company. My business partner and I are torn between Southern California and the Bay Area.
My wife and I are laid back surfers with dogs, and prefer warm weather and sunshine (that includes warmer water temperature). I'm a web/graphic designer, and she is a wedding photographer. We are in our mid to late 20's, and interested in starting a family within the next couple years. We both have family and friends in the L.A. and OC areas. I love the beach, and prefer to live within walking distance to it (though I can settle for a short drive). Currently, we are leaning heavily towards the Orange County and San Diego areas. We personally prefer San Diego, but love areas of both. Our businesses aren't our lives, just a part of it.
My business partner prefers the Bay Area. He's a single guy who likes the outdoors, but not particularly surfing. He has a friend in Oakland, and business is pretty much his life. He hasn't ventured south of Huntington Beach, and has only been to SoCal briefly on one occasion. His impression of SoCal seems to be L.A. and the media, which doesn't leave the best impression.
The issue is, we don't want to split the company over a location dispute. Business wise, I think we can source the talent we need in SoCal or NoCal. So, my question is, is there an area of SoCal (sans L.A.) with a culture and lifestyle similar to the Bay Area that my business partner could connect with? My wife and I have been to the Bay Area on multiple occasions and can't connect with the northern lifestyle.
islandstyle,
I am a little confused. You have a web startup, but you are looking for "talent" to be housed under one roof? Is working remotely out of the question or do you NEED to both be running operations 5 days a week?
Sounds like a tough sell for someone that truly values full time work habits vs a balanced work/life lifestyle. I agree with ealyretirement about SD. Across the board whether I see families or leisure activities for my wife and I, its a win win.
The Bay Area is great too, but I have never lived there. For the many times I have been there for business or pleasure, it appears to have more "depth" not only in industry but population. Its far denser. SF is tough, but the areas within the "Bay Area' are quite nice too if you havent been there before.
I do lots of surfing photography and for as great as SD is, NorCal on the whole has better and more consistent swells year round. This isn;t account for the frigid water conditions.
I would negotiate a tit for tat if I were you and have an agreement to visit both fairly if this is serious. Judging by your post plea, your business partner may not want to take the time to learn about SD or OC regardless of what you may say.
Thanks guys. In regards to the positions we are looking to fill, we own a website business and a small hosting business. The immediate positions we want to fill are basic support, and preferably somebody with HTML, CSS, PHP knowledge. Mostly, we need to relieve the burden of busy work from ourselves so we can focus on the bigger projects. By "talent", we're not necessarily looking for genius, just basic web knowledge and the potential for growing with the company. As much as we like Maui, it's completely devoid of anyone in the design or internet businesses. While I prefer San Diego, one of the biggest reasons I'm considering OC is because the tech industries in the area.
In regards to working remotely, we prefer to work in the same location and open an office. I'm willing to settle for working remotely if a decision can't be reached, but I don't think my partner is. I'd say we're actually past the startup phase, and needing to expand.
For surf, I longboard and shortboard. It's not just the surfing I enjoy, but the beach lifestyle which seems to be lacking in the North. I spent some time in Santa Cruz, it's a beautiful little town. It's the closest thing I found in the north to a beach town, but it's cold, over an hour from the city and still lacking in the business department. Like earlyretirement, I like the Bay Area as a place to vacation and visit regularly for business, but I'd prefer to live and raise a family in SoCal.
Thanks guys. In regards to the positions we are looking to fill, we own a website business and a small hosting business. The immediate positions we want to fill are basic support, and preferably somebody with HTML, CSS, PHP knowledge. Mostly, we need to relieve the burden of busy work from ourselves so we can focus on the bigger projects. By "talent", we're not necessarily looking for genius, just basic web knowledge and the potential for growing with the company. As much as we like Maui, it's completely devoid of anyone in the design or internet businesses. While I prefer San Diego, one of the biggest reasons I'm considering OC is because the tech industries in the area.
In regards to working remotely, we prefer to work in the same location and open an office. I'm willing to settle for working remotely if a decision can't be reached, but I don't think my partner is. I'd say we're actually past the startup phase, and needing to expand.
For surf, I longboard and shortboard. It's not just the surfing I enjoy, but the beach lifestyle which seems to be lacking in the North. I spent some time in Santa Cruz, it's a beautiful little town. It's the closest thing I found in the north to a beach town, but it's cold, over an hour from the city and still lacking in the business department. Like earlyretirement, I like the Bay Area as a place to vacation and visit regularly for business, but I'd prefer to live and raise a family in SoCal.
islandstyle,
I would agree about Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay being the surf/beach towns up there. Weather is certainly a lot different than down here.
Would it be worth your while to at least go to the Bay Area to set up shop for a year or two to see how things pan out on the mainland? It certainly seems the odds are stacked up against you in Southern California on the business side between your partner and talent. You seem young enough to at least devote a little more time to expanding the company, then possibly thinking about a move later on.
I've certainly considered that, and I've stressed quite a bit over finding a situation that would work for us in the Bay Area. I guess I'm just not convinced the odds are stacked against us business wise in SoCal vs NoCal. I know Silicon Valley is probably the best place to grow an internet related business, but my research has told me SoCal is number 2 in the country in terms of internet/tech businesses and venture capital. We've been successful in Maui, which is rare. So I think anywhere with more business resources to draw upon than Maui (pretty much anywhere) will continue the success with the business. Being a slightly bigger fish in a slightly smaller pond in the SoCal area might even be better for our business. Currently our business sells more than a web product, it also sells a lifestyle and allure tied to Hawaii. I think that allure could be continued in SoCal. Also, I've noticed most of our customers are from SoCal.
Other than business, there are several other factors. My brother and sister, and my wife's brother and sister live in SoCal. My wife's parents are in AZ within driving distance, and her dad is in his 80's. It would be nice to be able to visit on weekends. My wife's business as a wedding photographer is better suited for SoCal as well.
So really, for us, it's juggling the best move for family, lifestyle and business. Business might slightly have the upper hand in the Bay Area, but family and lifestyle go to SoCal.
but my research has told me SoCal is number 2 in the country in terms of internet/tech businesses and venture capital.
Not even close, especially on the VC side. Boston is #2, and a distant runner-up at that.
If you need VC, and you own an internet company, you want to have a presence in Silicon Valley, period. It might not need to be long term, but you can't ignore it.
I don't deny wanting to have a presence there, it's just not where I want to live. Having a successful business is meaningless to me if I can't live in a location that suits my lifestyle. I work to live, not live to work.
As far as VC, that isn't a top priority for us. We sell a product, and it's been successful. We're not trying to be the next Twitter or Facebook. SoCal as a whole (LA, OC, SD) has ranked number 2 in VC in any recent reports I've seen. It's just much less dense.
The largest companies that do what we do are located in South Africa and Chicago, so I just don't see Silicon Valley as a necessity. In fact, none of our competitors are located in Silicon Valley.
I was at CTIA this year and although its not web specific, its mobile specific. Inherently there will be ties to both as we shift towards mobile platforms and server based solutions (aka cloud).
What I saw most at CTIA this year as opposed to other years was the amount of VC start ups in areas I havent seen before in the mobile space. The other thing I noticed was how many of these companies came from the Bay Area as well as SD.
There were differences between what the two areas were putting out in regards to nerd products that someone like myself would use.
SV area was very web based whereas SD was more on the hardware side and about analytics fo systems. This isnt too shocking, but again the amount of VC's backed businesses was astonishing.
My point is that there is VC activity up and down the coast right now. Brick and mortar offices have been diminishing and job related tasks can be done overseas or here, especially with web. You are at an even greater advantage if your clients dont need to be met face to face. Whereas some marketing/service companies really are ball and chained to beig regional or local and "maybe" outsourcing storage solutions for their clients abroad.
Sassberto really knows more about his field than I do, but based on the "type" of talent you are looking for right now, CSS, PHP and HTML are pretty straightforward and I only imagine these days, kids coming out with a degree in CS can do it in their sleep (at least the good ones).
Once you start getting into more sophisticated web design the talent stock in SD might be slim. I suppose it depends on how far down the line you are looking.
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