I may be biased because I live here but I don't know why more tech entrepreneurs don't view Oakland as a viable place to build their start-ups. It's centrally located, close to public transportation, and real estate (both commercial and residential) is less expensive than the usual start-up hotspots of San Francisco or Silicon Valley. Not to mention the fact that a lot of folks who work at tech start-ups live in the East Bay and have long commutes. I've done the East Bay to SF/SV commute before and it used to take me 45-90 minutes one way each day to get to work. Compare that to my current 10-15 minute ROUNDTRIP commute and it's a no brainer. What could you do with an extra 2-3 hours every day? Over the course of a work year (about 250 days), that's almost a full month you've wasted on the road.

Granted, Oakland has its fair share of issues. The one that usually comes up is that Oakland is perceived to be a crime-ridden city. Sure, there's crime here but like any large city there are areas where crime is high and others where it is not. I don't propose you bring your tech start-up and plop it down on Seminary and International just like I wouldn't make the Tenderloin or Hunters Point my company HQ. My first company was in what's now known as the Uptown area of Oakland, home to such little known start-ups like Pandora. We currently reside in the Jack London Square area which recently brought in Sungevity, a solar start-up.

Getting to the point of this post, I'm trying to cobble together some tech start-ups who are looking for office space in the Jack London Square area. The building we're in is newly renovated and very well maintained. We occupy a small suite but are getting to the point where we are considering more space. Conveniently, there is a larger suite across the hall that's been decked to the halls with all the latest goodies (professional cubes, CAT 6 cabling, etc). Only catch is that it's huge and much larger than we can take at this time. My grand idea is to have an informal tech cluster sharing this space. A few start-ups working in close proximity to each other, sharing ideas, mingling, etc. Plus we would offer the flexibility that a standard lease would not have - month to month, taking more space, taking less space. So if anyone out there is interested, drop me a line. Even if you're not interested, drop me a line anyway. I'm always glad to meet new entrepreneurs and share ideas.

Or I should say disconnected from regular office type folks...

I'm sitting at Peet's, doing the usual afternoon coffee thing. I'm wedged at a table between two other tables filled with what seems like regular office folks (some have Clorox badges). Maybe I've been out of the regular work force for a while now (over 7 years and counting) but I can't believe the conversations these people are having. One table is discussing little diversion activities for their next strategy meeting - from human tetris to dressing up like super heroes for a skit to doing an air band performance. The other table is two ladies complaining about proper and improper ways their direct reports bring up overtime pay. WTF? Mind you, I'm not capping on any of these folks. If I think hard enough, I can remember a time when I was having the same conversations. It just goes to prove how unemployable I've become. Not that I'm complaining...

It's a little past 11pm and we're still in the office doing last minute prep for the Finovate 2009 show tomorrow morning. Everything is pretty much done, just doing last minute bug checks and word-smithing. Though exhausting, it's exciting times like this that make me so glad I don't have a regular 9 to 5. Don't get me wrong - start-up life is brutal and there's a lot of risk involved. However, it's just so much fun and I wouldn't trade the lows here for another Monday morning 2 hour status meeting to discuss why we need more discussion on a proposed action item from blah blah blah.
 
Now the only real issue tonight is whether I should go get chicken and waffles at Merritt Bakery...