Your view is bounded by geographical boundary? Are you assuming the entire TX is identical?
When I am in Singapore, always joke that walk a few steps would be another nation. Few minutes to few hrs drive/ flight can hit many tourists’ spot.
Did you miss the point that everybody is saying so LOUDly? Is man-made decisions and policies!
Just kidding. I’ve been to Houston, Dallas, Austin, South padre several times. I liked Austin though.
This is like fans bragging about the warriors winning the NBA title. They weren’t on the team and don’t have championship rings.
You were complaining about the business climate of California and I gave you counter examples. Business climate in California is so awful that we are the world champion of tech. Yeah, square that circle please.
Really hope the vaccine works. They literally put gun on the head of FDA to approve. No time to test. Money over health. Poor get screwed again as usual.
Detroit had the same attitude in 80s.
Sorry, I missed the list of counter examples. Where is it?
I like California. Just do not like the misguided policies and beliefs of elites who control power in this state
I don’t understand the obsession over Detroit. It was really only good at one thing: making cars. Silicon Valley’s strength is both much broader and deeper. We do the whole stack from way down at the silicon level all the way to the AI and cloud software, and they are used in everything. Also, Detroit was unseated by the nimble Japanese car firms with better management and technology, not by another American car hub city. Situations are entirely different and yet people keep bringing it up.
One big competitive advantage for California that nobody mentioned is the lack of non compete. I wrote about it in the context of Seattle. In both Washington state and Texas non competes are legal. They are not enforceable in California.
Oracle is famous for one thing: its ex-employees. Many have come out and founded great companies, including salesforce and the recent darling of Wall Street, Snowflake. It would not have been possible in Texas. Or Seattle for that matter.
That’s good. Entrepreneurs get their suckers’ money in SV for proof of concept till profitable, then move to Austin when profitable. Symbiotic relationship 
Number of millionaires
Yr. SV… Austin… Elsewhere
1… 25… 0… … …0
2… 100…0… … …0
3… 25… 50… … .25
4… 100… 50… … .25
5… 25… 100… … .50
6… 100… 100… …50
7… 25… 150… … .75
8… 100… 150… …75
9… 25… 200… … 100
…
They will move to Austin when they are dying, like HP and Oracle.
How come eBay hasn’t moved yet? It clearly is dying…
You are not paying attention. HP and Oracle already have many employees in Austin. They move in phases. First group: Support, 2nd group: discreetly selected engineering, 3rd group: HQ, 4th group: Rest of the engineering. Do some scuttlebutt. Don’t rely only on reading public info.
Why SV will continue to be the goose that lays the golden IPO eggs:
But non-competes are not enforceable everywhere; perhaps most surprisingly, they are not enforceable in California, the home of Silicon Valley. The general consensus is that this is to ensure that the talent pool can move from one employer to the next in the technology hub of the US. As a consequence, places like Massachusetts have had a talent drain.
“People from places like Boston have moved to California to avoid being forced to sign a non-compete that would preclude them form starting their own business or moving to another competitor,” he says.
But the three cloud giants are not just located in California – they have global offices – and this is why court cases pertaining to non-competes still occur in other regions.
While one argument is that California would remain an innovative place to work, enabling people to use what they’ve learnt to create their own business, or join smaller cloud suppliers – the vast majority of the US and other jurisdictions around the world may not cater for that same type of innovation.
what if TX passes waiving non compete?
Big businesses love non-competes, and they write checks to the politicians.
The majority of U.S. states recognize and enforce various forms of non-compete agreements. A few states, such as California, Montana, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, totally ban non-compete agreements for employees, or prohibit all non-compete agreements except in limited circumstances.
The companies that are IPOs recently were created 8 to 10 years before with funding from very connected people. These are virtual firms. local business climate has no impact on them.
identical investors. i presume these people need exit after so long funding.
https://craft.co/airbnb/funding-rounds
https://craft.co/doordash/funding-rounds
No, it’s really is the same as the sports fan. You don’t work for startups. You aren’t a VC investor. You aren’t on those teams financially benefitting from their winning. Yet, you love you brag about their winning and use it to justify living in the bay area. It’s like a vegan bragging about the cattle and steak in Texas.
I own real estate in SV. I own stocks in tech firms. How am I the vegan bragging about steaks?
Actually the non-SF people complaining about homelessness is more like a sports fan hating the other team, while having zero skin in the real game.
Part 1/4
The view from the Bay Area: Oracle’s move could could prompt others to jump to Texas
Site selector: ‘My clients tell me they have saved between 15% and 30% on their tax bills by moving to Texas.’
By Mark Calvey – Senior Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
a day ago
Oracle’s headquarters move from Redwood City to Austin, announced Dec. 11, is expected to make it easier for other corporate giants to join the San Francisco Bay Area exodus.
“These high-profile moves create precedent and raise the comfort for other companies to do likewise,” said John Boyd, principal at site selection consultant The Boyd Co. in New Jersey. “Everyone seems to be getting the message — except California lawmakers.”
Former Wells Fargo CEO Dick Kovacevich echoed Boyd’s sentiment in a Dec. 11 email to me on Oracle’s big news: “California’s great migration continues. Wake up Sacramento. The golden goose is about to be roasted.”
California’s tax structure probably played a significant role in Oracle’s (NYSE: ORCL) headquarters relocation, a business accountant said.
“California’s 13.3% top tax rate on personal income and capital gains versus no state income tax in Texas is likely a key driver in Oracle’s headquarters move,” said Alex Thacher, partner-in-charge of the state and local tax practice of San Ramon accounting firm Armanino.
To be certain, Oracle’s HQ relocation follows similar announcements from other Bay Area companies — and even more could occur before year-end.
“Oracle joins Schwab, McKesson, Toyota — and potentially Tesla — in rejecting California for Texas,” said Boyd, who has worked with several companies in moving to the Lone Star State. “These high-profile moves are not only an endorsement of Texas’ superior business climate, but also the talent assets there.
“This Oracle project is another huge economic development trophy for Texas Gov. Abbott’s wall,” said Boyd, who earlier this year told me a corporate headquarters move can be easily done with the issuance of a press release. Oracle didn’t even bother with a press release, instead quietly dropping the newsin an SEC filing.
In addition to tax savings, Boyd said Austin’s central location and lower cost of living is more conducive to national recruiting.
Part 2/4
“I doubt that anyone except Oracle’s tax department could give you a reasonable estimate,” said Joseph Vranich, a site selection consultant with Spectrum Location Solutions in Pennsylvania. “My clients tell me they have saved between 15% and 30% on their tax bills by moving to Texas.
“The message Oracle’s departure sends to politicians is this: Just keep treating businesses with sheer contempt and you will see more businesses exit,” Vranich said. “I believe, based on the inquiries I’m receiving, that departures will increase in 2021 as the California Legislature most certainly will hike personal income taxes again, while localities statewide will also seek tax increases.”
Another sign that states courting Bay Area businesses are on a roll was word Dec. 11 from the Greater Phoenix Economic Council that California companies account for 28% of active prospects in its pipeline, President and CEO Chris Camachotold me, adding that several headquarters and advanced manufacturing operations are nearing announcement.
One of the loudest voices sounding the alarm over Oracle’s stunning news was from the Bay Area Council, the region’s influential business group, which is chaired by Business Times Publisher and Market President Mary Huss.
“Anyone who doesn’t believe that this latest departure isn’t a threat to California’s economy is a business-climate denier,” said Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council. “We are watching the unraveling of one of the world’s mightiest economies and the consequences will be devastating.
“We can’t afford to dither any longer or California will permanently lose hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs to states like Texas that place value on business and investment,” Wunderman said.
Another major concern emerging in site selection circles, although rarely discussed publicly, is the prospect that federal taxes could rise under a Biden administration, though that would probably require a Democratic U.S. Senate majority that the party does not yet have.
“New federal tax increases will add insult to injury for California-based companies and executives — already the most taxed in the nation,” Boyd said.
Non compete clauses are used frequently in California. It is one of those laws whose exemption is used more often than the main body of the law. I have singed them a few times. I remember this because I discussed this with HR just to understand what do they mean. Till only a few years ago, there was an understanding among Google, FB, and Apple etc to not poach each other employees.