The SF Silicon Valley Effect

I’m shook.

I’ve been here for 27 years (since DotCom) and have never seen things move like this.

SF & SILICON VALLEY EFFECTS:

SPEED EFFECTS

I witnessed one of our AI-native portfolio companies* develop and launch a standout feature that attracted several thousand users in just four weeks—while continuously improving along the way as they prepare to scale it.

By contrast, big companies often take four MONTHS just to assemble a cross-functional planning team. Yes, they have distribution, scale, and brand—but they’re far from moving at the speed of AI-native startups.

NETWORK EFFECTS

In August alone, SF Bay Area hosted 209 in-person AI events** (13 of them weekend hackathons each with hundreds of developers). I did not include any remote events in this sum. This means: more connections, more info exchange, more value exchanged, accelerated.

I’d wager there are more AI events in SF bay than the entire globe combined.

FUNDING EFFECTS

SignalFire Ventures reported that the SF Bay Area deployed more venture funding than the rest of the world combined. Successful tech employees and founders often become angels, backing their friends’ startups. Also, the valuation of SF bay startups is much higher than rest of world.

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Side comment 1: the streets. I’ve observed that San Francisco’s streets have been significantly safer and cleaner this year. Why is that?

Side comment 2: I’m estimating 80% of highway 101 billboards are about AI, that’s an hour long drive between San Jose and SF.

*check out Rube from Composio, I’m an investor.
**Data from Cerebral Valley.