Q: Should I move to San Francisco or Palo Alto?
San Francisco.
It should make a lot more sense to come to the Peninsula, to Palo Alto / Mountain View / etc. After all Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. are all there. That’s a huge pool of talent to recruit from, and a great group of companies to parter with.
But …
If nothing else … if you are in software / internet … your talent is most likely going to want to work in San Francisco.
Times have changed. In the Old Days, you put the company where the CEO wanted to live. Then, we put companies where senior management lived (kids, schools, etc.).
Now, we put the company where our managers can best recruit the talent they need to win.
In most cases, especially if you are coming from outside the Bay Area and lack any special network … that’s San Francisco.
Even if it doesn’t totally make sense on some levels.
[ Even me … I live 5 minutes from our Menlo Park office. But now I drive 5 days a week to the San Francisco one. Talent. ]
