You need to understand San Francisco if you're going to work in tech

@andrewchanvc

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Atas VCatas.vc

Early-stage venture capital fund investing in the future of traditional industries — energy, mining, manufacturing, and American necessities. Based in Santa Monica, CA.

3 videos

Why it worked

The video taps into a common sentiment among those in the tech and venture capital industries about the unique, and often polarizing, culture of San Francisco. By framing this as essential knowledge for success, it creates a sense of urgency and relevance for its target audience.

Summary

The speaker shares their negative experience living in San Francisco but still recommends it for tech professionals and venture capitalists to understand the industry's competitive landscape. They highlight SF's insular culture, harsh environment, and the intense work ethic of its startups.

Structure

1Negative experience in SF, but still recommended for tech/VC
2Critique of SF's bubble, coldness, and traffic
3The need to experience SF's startup culture firsthand

Original caption

although admittedly the one thing SF has on LA is a thriving tropical themed bar scene. but also I think that’s correlated with people being so sad and working so much that they need to drink more there versus in LA why would you do that when you can just go to the beach #sanfrancisco #venturecapital #startups

More from @andrewchanvc

Product placement

The video mentions San Francisco as a hub for tech and venture capital, implying that understanding its environment is crucial for success in these fields. The creator's bio link points to 'Atas VC', suggesting this is the entity or platform they represent, which is implicitly promoted through this discussion.

On-screen text

You need to understand San Francisco if you're going to work in tech

Transcript

Living in San Francisco was the worst year of my life and I still recommend that everyone who works in tech, everyone who works in venture capital does it at some point in time. I hate SF. First of all, it's a massive bubble. Everyone is obsessed with the same startups with the same technology. Nobody really seems to be able to think for themselves up there. The city is cold both figuratively and literally. And the traffic downtown and the traffic in the Bay Bridge is far worse than anything I've ever experienced in LA. Here's the deal though. Working in tech, working in startups, working in venture capital, you need to experience what it is to live, eat and breathe startups. You will go to any event in SF and people will be talking about vibe coding, about token maxing, about the newest AI startup or the thread that Peter T. Lee posted and is that absolutely soulless and horrible to experience when you're like at your friend's Halloween party, uh 100%. But if you're in startups, if you're in venture capital, that's your competition. You need to understand who you're going up against for funding, for deals, for allocations because often times I will see startups here in LA are outside of Silicon Valley saying, "Oh, well, why aren't we getting funded because those guys got funded in San Francisco?" Those guys aren't the same startup that you are. You took last weekend off. Those guys were in the office until 10:00 p.m. every night ripping Fortnite while they were vibe coding. That doesn't mean you can't out compete these people and you can't build better companies than them by living a different life, but you should understand who they are and what you're going up against if you're going to compete.