Key facts
- Reed Jobs believes San Francisco's post-pandemic real estate slump shifted Silicon Valley's tech 'energy' north.
- He cited the availability of affordable office space in San Francisco as a key factor for startups.
- Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Chai Discovery are now seen as indicators of this shift.
- Jobs' venture firm, Yosemite, is located in San Francisco to capitalize on this trend.
Reed Jobs, son of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has stated that the 'energy' of Silicon Valley has migrated north to San Francisco, largely due to the city's post-pandemic commercial real estate slump. Jobs explained on the Sabrina Halper Show that while Silicon Valley, including Palo Alto and the South Bay, was once the epicenter for tech giants like Apple and Google, the current hub of innovation is now San Francisco.
He pointed to the availability of significantly cheaper office space in San Francisco following the pandemic as a catalyst for this shift. This affordability, he noted, is particularly attractive to tech startups. Jobs mentioned companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Chai Discovery as examples of this migration. He also observed that the AI boom is leading startups to cluster in smaller San Francisco neighborhoods, like the Design District where office space costs around $59.53 per square foot, compared to over $70 per square foot in the Financial District or Mission Bay.
Jobs, who grew up in Palo Alto and has lived in San Francisco for nine years, described the city's upheaval during the pandemic as a 'natural turning point.' He emphasized that startups prefer energetic areas with mixed-use and adaptable office spaces that are not prohibitively expensive, aligning with the need for long work hours and collaboration. Jobs himself leads Yosemite, a San Francisco-based venture firm focused on oncology, and stated that the firm's location was chosen to be at the center of the current action.