Silicon Valley had peaked for all those exact same reasons in 2000, and again in 2008...hell I've been waiting since I first moved to the Bay Area in 1998 for housing prices to become "affordable". And I'm not sure Thiel could be called a trend, he's one of hundreds exactly like him. I'm in the mid-Atlantic in one of what is supposedly an emerging entrepreneurial hub and I can tell you that it's no Silicon Valley as much as I and others here want it to be. Sure I could get funding if I wanted it, as if that's all it takes to become a successful startup. If I wanted/needed to scale up like any of hundreds of startups routinely do in the Bay Area, for example, it wouldn't be happening here like it would back there. For some areas, like software developers, there just aren't enough people with the skill set here. Not something you can really expect an Economist reporter to grasp, but doesn't make it any less true. Even for people you could find here, the concept of equity as a big part of compensation is just foreign to them and as a result they value it very little, which translates to much bigger required paychecks now which is a huge disadvantage while scaling a startup. Not to mention most here see working at a startup as "risky" while in the Bay Area it's seen as a badge of honor, so again harder and more expensive to attract talent. And that's just one of many issues. How many attorneys do we have here that are used to working with startups and have a fee schedule that works for them? Zero vice dozens. How many accounting firms meeting the same criteria...again zero vice dozens. Banks...again and you can go right down the list of service providers. How many universities where big percentages of the alumni have started businesses, often while at school...not so much. How many incubators do we have here, shared workspaces, meetups, mentors who have done the startup thing....a few but nothing like critical mass. In strategy there in a concept of building an ecosystem that is much greater than the sum of its parts. It's a holy grail of sorts for companies seeking a sustainable competitive advantage in what otherwise is a highly competitive field. Silicon Valley has achieved that. Few other places have. Summing parts like the Economist reporter really not only misses the point but misses it in a way that is so predictable it's almost a running joke in the Bay Area.
An Early Warning Sign for the World's Priciest Homes Is Flashing Sell https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-priciest-homes-is-flashing-sell?srnd=premium
Bay Area exodus? Region’s business leaders say not so fast A Bay Area business advocacy group was quick to take issue with a San Francisco Business Times report this week on the growing number of local companies moving out of the region. Companies are choosing to open regional offices around the country and in some cases, moving their corporate headquarters out of California, with CEOs often citing quality of life and cost of living as key factors in their decisions. But the Bay Area Council took issue with the report, saying that the Bay Area economy continues to enjoy dramatic growth. (San Francisco Business Times) PS this is a self fulfilling prophecy