I’ve admittedly spent more time in Boston than San Fran but have visited and talked to enough friends to get a feel for the major differences between these two cities.
Here are my reasons for staying or moving to Boston to found a startup :
1. Harvard-MIT and a host of other top universities in the immediate area, a lot of them walkable to one another.. One could say that Boston is a ginormous campus. Can one walk from Stanford to Berkeley..?
2. Less crazy homeless people. Yes, let’s face it folks: there are A LOT of crazy homeless in San Francisco. We have them in Boston too but they are far less in your face and far less in general.
3. We are the Hub. Not only are we closer to Europe (for all you UK startup junkies) but we have huge immigrant populations coming from Asia/India to attend school, work, and live here.
4. We don’t have tunnel vision. We don’t just talk about the next Facebook or Twitter in every cafe, in every restaurant, and on every street corner like they do in the Valley.. Biotech and the medical sciences are pretty big here as well for example.. If you want to imagine a software solution to somebody’s problem, wouldn’t you rather be sitting next to someone who has a real problem to solve..? or would you rather be over hearing a conversation about someone wanting to start another twitter clone..?
5. We aren’t a startup cult. Yes I know I know.. Fox news is criticized for being too conservative… Does anyone criticize Hacker News for having a slight left coast bias when it concerns startups..? Seriously though.. it all feels a little cult-ish..
6. More room to spread out & affordability. Why is it every time I’m in San Francisco I feel like I’m packed in like sardines in a crushed tin box..? It seems the city is much less accessible from the Valley than Boston is from its suburbs. The choice in SF: Either live in the city or deal with suburban hell in the valley.. No compromise. In Boston, one has much more room to spread out into places like Cambridge and Somerville etc.. We’re not on a peninsula surrounded by ocean on 3 sides. Oh and if you thought living in Boston was expensive.. Just try renting a place in San Fran proper.. Actually forget about renting a place in San Fran proper.. You can’t afford it.
7. San Fran is an adult playground and Boston really isn’t and you’re single and want to party right?? Well lucky for you Boston is a 3-4 hour bus ride to NYC via the $15 Fung Wah bus. If you really wanted to you could even live in NYC.. After all, there are hackers who live there and the startup scene, while not amazing, isn’t bad… Oh and New York City happens to be one of the coolest adult playgrounds in the world.. Much more to do and see than San Fran.
8. History. That’s right.. Remember the shot heard round the world or the Boston tea party..? Yeah that happened here. From Harvard, to the Kennedys, and to Edgar Allan Poe .. We’ve got history and we’ve got a lot of it..
9. Natives and culture. Yes we actually have people here who are from here. They’re called Bostonians. Kind of makes it feel like a real city… It always felt strange being in San Fran with all the people who weren’t from there. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever met an SF native.
10. We value knowledge and books more. Don’t believe me.. Just read this essay by Paul Graham: http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html. Here’s a good quote from it:
“As of this writing, Cambridge seems to be the intellectual capital of the world. I realize that seems a preposterous claim. What makes it true is that it’s more preposterous to claim about anywhere else. American universities currently seem to be the best, judging from the flow of ambitious students. And what US city has a stronger claim? New York? A fair number of smart people, but diluted by a much larger number of neanderthals in suits. The Bay Area has a lot of smart people too, but again, diluted; there are two great universities, but they’re far apart. Harvard and MIT are practically adjacent by West Coast standards, and they’re surrounded by about 20 other colleges and universities.”
11. We have good sushi too! Ever here of Fugakyu in Brookline..?
12. Weather.. Ok so it sucks during the winter and it snows. It’s not Alaska so get over it..!
