In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we discuss the hot button issue of… living in the Bay Area! If you’re starting a company, does it need to be in San Francisco?

One rare aspect of this episode: it’s one where Michael and I disagree.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The pros and cons of living in the Bay Area, while trying to cut through all of the noise startup founders hear on where to live.
• The one big advantage of living in the Bay Area in this moment, which is maximizing luck.
• The network effects of living in the Bay Area. These effects aren’t always obvious to people who don’t live here; sometimes they aren’t even obvious to the people making use of them.
• Why you want to be around the top .001% of people in your field, and why for startups that means being in the Bay Area.

Michael lives right in the middle of San Francisco. I live about 30 minutes outside of SF. While we disagree on exactly where we each want to live, we agree on this: if you want to maximize your odds of success as a founder — and why wouldn’t you want that? — you should live in the Bay Area.