Move to San Francisco If Getting the Highest Valuation Matters

Debate is settled: startup founders should move to San Francisco IF…

Getting the highest valuation is what matters.

The real question: is optimizing for the highest possible valuation the right move for your company?

Sure, it feels great. And it does come with real benefits (probably more money to spend, probably a higher profile among key potential hires, probably a lot of things).

But it also comes with real drawbacks, primarily reset expectations that mean anything less than perfect execution will be viewed as a failure.

Also why do SF companies get these higher valuations anyway?

• More VCs compete in SF for the same pool of companies. More demand for a similar supply = higher prices.

• More VCs in SF have bigger funds, meaning they need to put more money to work at the same stage, meaning bigger rounds = higher valuations.

• More price insensitivity on the part of VCs means more companies are pushed to think much, much bigger. Small wins are not valued in the SF ecosystem.

• Every gold rush has high prices and AI is just that.

Move to SF, stay in your hometown, either can be an excellent choice. Play your game with all the facts 🙏