Exactly 2 months ago, I moved out of my home country of Moldova.
Destination - San Francisco.
Despite the recent negative media perception of SF, I love it.
The people are nice and creative, the weather is just perfect, everything is so colorful, diverse, and the food is also not so bad.
However, the most impressive thing I notice about San Francisco is it’s entrepreneurship & startup culture. I’ve never seen anything like it before - not in London, not in New York, not in Dubai, and definitely not in Chisinau (Moldova).
I’ve never seen someone:
- have an idea
- maybe build an MVP or prove product-market fit
- craft a pitch
- reach out to investors
- get pre-seed funding
- fail
- pivot & start again
All this in one 2-day hackathon.
Yet, it’s what everyone does here.
In Moldova (or in Europe as a whole), we:
- have an idea
- build a solid product for months & years
- bootstrap everything
- go and try sell the product
- never really get funds unless absolutely necessary
To be honest, I think the Silicon Valley playbook is exaggerated and overplayed. I’m grateful I have the perspective to do both - be quick, flexible & bootstrap.
San Francisco is a city of diversity - you can see it in it’s colors, buildings, and especially people.
I’m enjoying my time here and will continue to do so (at least) until May 2025.
PS: Always open to morning coffees or evening walks if some of you want to meet me in San Francisco.