San Francisco is a beautiful city, no doubt. Like Barcelona, it’s a city by the water (an ocean and bay and not a sea, mind you); like Montreal, it has a very big European feel to it. Barcelona and Montreal are two of my favorite cities.
Anyway, it was actually my fourth time in the city, but for some reason this time it hit me how small the city is. Sure, there are 7.5M people around the city who consider themselves San Franciscans, but there’s only 750,000 people in the actual area that is SF.
I have pretty much already made up my mind to move some of the operations of the company (namely, sales, business development, public relations, etc.) away from Montreal, leaving production and development here… I was torn between NYC and SF and while my mind is not made up 100%, I got my answer on this trip.
What’s the verdict? You’ll find out soon enough.
Gotta clear some emails in the meantime…
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April 3rd, 2007 at 11:44 am
I left my heart in San Fransisco
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Sounds like your mind has already been made up. However, as someone who over the last 10 years went from NYC to SF to NYC and finally back to SF I’ll add my two cents.
New York is indisputably a great city, but it’s not an easy one. If you are there for a specific reason - climb the corporate ladder in finance, fashion, publishing, etc. then it totally makes sense to be there. But I found the day to day quality of life could not compare to SF. Even though San Fran is one of the most expensive cities around, it pales in comparison to all the costs you will bear of moving a company to New York.
I originally moved out to SF in ‘97 (from NYC) to start my first Internet company. After selling it in ‘99 I wandered back to NYC for a couple of years, but decided to come back to SF to start the second one. I’ve found the energy and depth of talent in the tech area here to be unmatched anywhere. If you’re growing an Internet company I’d strongly vote for SF.
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:14 pm
James,
Thanks for the feedback. My mind is not made up 100% frankly.
Considering that Mojo Supreme is 75% media, 25% technology, NYC is just more of a natural place to be to interact with other media companies and ad agencies, who are our main partners and clients (much the same way that tech firms need to be in SF, for example, to “cross pollinate” with one another).
Indeed, SF and NYC are two very different beasts, but NYC is the capital of the world (though techies would argue that SF is the center of the universe). I think that given that we are now in year 2 of operations, the natural next step is to set up a presence, no matter how small or modest, in NYC this year… with an eye on Europe and the US west coast in early 2008 latest.
At the risk of fully disclosing our business plan, the order of the steps have a lot to do with the many growth routes that we are faced with. If we’re acquired, naturally that means a different path than if we remain independent, etc.
Having just spent a weekend in SF, with gorgeous weather to boot, I do not need to be sold on SF… either NYC or Bay Area, the dealmaking opportunities are very enticing. Truth is, I have for the past six years done a lot operating with companies in SF and NYC out of Montreal. Frankly, it feels like some sort of parallel universe, it’s time to step into the majors… I do not say that as a knock against Montreal, ’tis a great city after all, home of many successful startups, but come on, if you want to be the Pope, you have to be in the Vatican no matter how much you love your home town.