Don't move to SF at all. It never ceases to amaze me how 1st time web start-ups think moving there is the only way to succeed. Grrrr.
We're located in Bath, England. That's right, not even London. We launched our new startup in June 2010 and we just hit $600K in yearly recurring rev. MRR grew by almost 20% this month. Don't believe the TechCrunch hype about funding and the Silicon Valley scene.
Ryan I am impressed with all of your achievements including http://thinkvitamin.com/ but I am not sure your advice is as sound as your business. Your team has built a great brand globally over many years with the conference business, and in my opinion you have done a nice job leveraging that brand equity for your new startup.
I do agree that if you are building a revenue focused company, you don't have to go to San Francisco.
But it's hard to argue against how easy it is to raise money or get acquired in the valley vs anywhere else in the world. Look at how easy it was for Path and Instagram to raise money and to get cheap money at that. In other markets many VCs want to see revenue not just traction and that revenue can work against you and lower your valuation - making the money more expensive.
For reference to Instagram, see this Chris Dixon interview with Kevin Systrom
"He also talks about how the serendipity of Silicon Valley contributed to the formation Instagram, remembering a party that Dixon once threw in San Francisco where Systrom ended up meeting his key angel investors."
It does make me a little sad that there are companies that are not "revenue focused". It would be a shame if the word "revenue" started getting thrown around with the same disdain as "lifestyle business".
We're located in Bath, England. That's right, not even London. We launched our new startup in June 2010 and we just hit $600K in yearly recurring rev. MRR grew by almost 20% this month. Don't believe the TechCrunch hype about funding and the Silicon Valley scene.