Josh Miller, a young entrepreneur who left Princeton last year and headed West to become a protege of Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone at Obvious Corporation, is already bailing on San Francisco. His reasons? The city "is just too nice" for a budding young tech company.
Writing on Pando Daily (which is like a friendlier version of TechCrunch) Miller explains why he's packing up his 6-month-old company Branch (which appears to be one of those insider-y, social network-y, startup things used only by people whose job is to play around with emerging social network-y startup things) and heading back East to our old arch-nemesis New York:
San Francisco is just too nice. The nature is too accessible, the architecture is too Victorian, and the weather is too perfect. The quality of life here is unrivaled. But I feel like I haven’t earned that yet. One day, I’ll bike across the bridge and meet my family at Mill Valley Beerworks.For now, I miss the grit and grime of New York. It is real and raw, and the commotion of the city is contagious. Startup life is characterized by constant motion and tenacious tinkering, not hikes on Mt. Tam and brunch in the Mission
Touché, Miller! Life on the startup brunch scene can be pretty overwhelming sometimes. But what's so great about New York, then? Miller explains:
I like to tell people: New York is like coffee. You know it’s not good for you, and you don’t really like the taste, but you just can’t get enough. The rush, the jitters, they’re addicting, as are startups.
OK, so this is one of those East Coast vs. West Coast coffee snob things. Got it. At least New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is jazzed about it:
Why Branch Is Moving Back To New York City (via @pandodaily) t.co/CwxxpJ7K #NYCTech
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) March 27, 2012
[BetaBeat]
[PandoDaily]