How do new startups afford living in San Francisco?

The San Francisco Bay Area is an epicenter for startups. As 13.5% of all global startup deals take place in the Bay Area, it’s no wonder new startups are attracted to this lucrative city.

But San Francisco is also an expensive place to live and work. The average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in San Francisco is $3,100/month, $1,550/person/month, or $18,600/year. 

The national average rent for a 2 bed is only $1,194/month, $597/person/month, or $7,164/year.

Meanwhile, it costs an average of $13,032/year/employee to rent office space in San Francisco. A 10-person startup would pay $130,320/year on office space for their team.

If we combine office space and apartment rental costs, a startup founder in San Francisco would need to pay an average of $148,920/per year.

An alternative option for startup teams is to live and work together in a coliving space. Startup House in San Francisco, for example, costs $980/bed/month, or $11,760/year/person on average, to live and work in their Menlo Park location. 

By choosing to live in a coliving space for your startup team in San Francisco, your company could save well over $100,000 in office space rental payments and your team members could save thousands in rent. 

Not to mention, startup teams can be incredibly productive in coliving spaces uniquely designed to cater to the startup environment.

Read on to learn about why startups move to San Francisco in the first place, how startups can afford the Bay Area and how to make the most out of the coliving experience in San Francisco as an entrepreneur.

Why do startups move to San Francisco?

Silicon Valley is a hotbed for innovation. It rose to fame after many technology superstars created ingenious businesses that disrupted the market. 

Facebook, Apple, Google, Sony, and Tesla, some of the biggest companies in the world, are only a sampling of the big names headquartered in the Bay Area. 

Investment opportunities

There is an enormous amount of investment opportunity for startups in San Francisco. 

Bay Area startups in 2019 attracted about $45.9 billion in funding. And California’s economy, aided in large part by the city of San Francisco, amounts to 14% of the US economy. 

Source: Crunchbase

If it were its own country, California would be the fifth-largest economy in the entire world. 

As investment coalitions are so crucial to business growth, centering your startup in the midst of so much capital is a no-brainer. 

Networking opportunities

In the same vein, as so much investment capital is available there, the city is ripe with networking opportunities that can lead to lucrative investment deals and valuable partnerships.

Source: Outsite Mission – Coliving.com

Basing your startup in San Francisco gives you a substantial chance to attract local talent to your business in the manner of both consultancy and employment. 

Coliving spaces for startups, for example, have unique connections with local investors and top talent. Coliving space teams host several networking events each month to help bridge the gap between their resident entrepreneurs and local experts. 

San Francisco, in general, is also home to many product fairs, workshops, and seminars that startup teams can attend and learn from. 

Access to this free flow of helpful information and resources is a big part of why startup teams choose to base themselves in this cutting-edge city.

An innovative environment

Starting a business in the presence of greatness is a goal that many entrepreneurs aspire to achieve.

You can practically smell the passion, innovation, collaboration, and genius of startup success in San Francisco. It’s infectious. 

Positioning your business in the startup innovation hub can be essential to daily motivation and throughput. As success breeds success, startup teams can significantly benefit from surrounding themselves with other risk-taking, innovative businesses. 

As mentioned above, many coliving spaces host weekly networking events. While many focus on linking entrepreneurs with investors, others focus on connecting startup founders with experienced workers. These workers can act as mentors to startup founders or even offer consulting expertise to aid in developing ventures. 

In San Francisco, you’ll feel inspired to work harder than ever, knowing that helpful advice and advantageous partnership affiliations are around the corner.

How can startups save money in the Bay Area?

As mentioned at the start of this article, coliving spaces are the best way to save on both living and office space costs. 

Live and work in a coliving space.

The modern coliving movement is gaining popularity, especially among entrepreneurs and startup teams. Many coliving companies designate their spaces for startup founders and teams looking to live and work together in a productive and motivating environment. 

These spaces come equipped with coworking units designed with productivity in mind. The coworking spaces are often separate from the rest of the house to minimize distractions and boost concentration. 

Many even have private meetings for residents to take personal business calls or group meetings. These ergonomic spaces are built to influence productivity and focus. 

Coliving spaces are much more affordable than renting an office space or paying for a serviced coworking membership for your team. 

Collaborate with local businesses

Besides living and working together in a coliving space, startup teams also have countless occasions to collaborate with other businesses in San Francisco. 

There is strength in unity, and tapping into this local industry database can be hugely beneficial and cost-saving.

For example, if a tech startup needed advice on the best cloud services to host their platform, they could reach into the flourishing local tech marketplace to seek guidance. 

A business with cloud services expertise may run in similar networking circles as you. And if not, there’s an equally strong chance that somebody you meet at a local networking event, either hosted by your coliving space or one you attend independently, will know a local business with the knowledge base you’re looking for.

This readily available business collaboration can help startups save time and money. Rather than spending valuable resources gathering this information from foreign networks, startups in San Francisco can reach across to their neighbors and find precisely what they need in half the time.

How entrepreneurs can make the most out of the coliving experience in San Francisco 

Besides cost-saving, the best part of the coliving experience as an entrepreneur is access to a pool of talented professionals.

Every startup founder in San Francisco is motivated to succeed. As the Bay Area and Silicon Valley are the Olympics of startups, the bar is set high.

Most startup founders who build a business in San Francisco are supremely driven to materialize their concept into a fruitful venture. But many don’t do it alone.

The entrepreneurs who occupy coliving spaces draw inspiration from one another. They live, work and play together, giving them ample time to discuss work and personal goals throughout their days. 

That’s why the startup teams who move into coliving spaces begin to view rent as a business investment. As rent in this scenario applies to living, work, and office expenses, its definition broadens.

The key is not to spend 100% of your time on your startup. Downtime is significant to rest your brain and allow new ideas to simmer. 

One of the most intriguing reasons to move into a coliving space as an entrepreneur is an ability to socialize in a relaxed environment with a group of passionate individuals.

Some of the best ideas are born in moments of intermission rather than in intervals of focused work. A casual chat over a meal may spark that lucrative idea you’ve been pondering but couldn’t bring to fruition. 

How can you gain the most from your coliving experience? Place equal value on “off the clock” moments as you do on fixated productivity. 

Get to know your housemates on both a personal and professional level. You never know what moment may inspire your next great idea, whether in your personal life or business endeavor.

Finding the perfect coliving space for your startup in San Francisco

New startups in San Francisco thrive when they move into coliving spaces and connect with the vibrant startup ecosystem. 

Coliving networking events are a great way to collaborate and form connections with businesses, talent and investors. These partnerships are vital to consummating success and saving money in the process.

Find the perfect coliving space for your startup team in San Francisco today on Rooms for rent in San Francisco. Scroll through dozens of verified listings and choose custom filters to find exactly what you need.