Welcome to San Francisco, California, land of the opinion, diversified voice, home to liberation of free thought…and also home to the biggest tech boom in America. We, San Franciscans now live in a time of heightened technology, apps being created every nanosecond, technological advances occurring rapidly, and a continuous development of revolutionary hotspots of tech trends. According to the Martin Prosperity Institute’s Startup City-The Urban Shift in Venture Capital and High Technology, as a whole the San Francisco Bay Area including Silicon Valley, accounted for more than 4 in 10 of all venture capital dollars invested across the United States. San Francisco proper now attacks a larger volume of venture capital investment than the original starting place of all things tech, Silicon Valley. 11 billion dollars has also been accounted and now the San Francisco market is known across the nation as the urban tech boom. This second tech boom, from the previous dot.com boom in 1998 through 2001 in Silicon Valley has also caused immense controversy amongst San Franciscans and beyond. Topics like gentrification, job displacement, mortgages skyrocketing, and having San Francisco transform into a monolithic tech bubble and culture, have all been discussed. Recently graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, one seems to ask oneself, are there any positives to living in a society surrounded and immersed by tech?
Yes, there are actually a few positives, jobs and upward mobility being a few. Although San Francisco is currently battling its past memory of being a free-loving culture, (which does not have to change) this city can also implement the new surroundings of its tech counterpart.
Firstly, embracing tech culture and the business it brings to San Francisco wouldn’t be so terrible. Tech boom 2.0 has now emerged showcasing companies like Facebook, Twitter, and especially Google revealing business plans that are designed to reach the masses, and gone are the days where the tech boom businesses consisted of tech enthusiasts without a solidified team or representation. The new kids on the block, regarding startups, i.e. Level Money now have an assorted team to represent their company effectively. The Level Money startup team includes various engineers, designers, advocates, and their own in-house public relations representation. Startups and tech companies are designing their businesses to be infallible and to last amongst the constant changes and creation of cutting-edge technology and ideas. With serious direction and desire to stay afloat these companies need dedicated and passionate employees to help actualize the vision of the product.
Secondly, moving onwards and upwards, whom really wants to stay stagnate? This specific tech boom, or tech boom 2.0 offers an array of opportunity and growth, not only for the city of San Francisco, more for the brand of San Francisco. Any and everything can be marketed and “spinned” to the masses so why can’t San Francisco be a tech business hub as well as a place for alternative culture? We should not limit this city’s potential and place one identity onto the meaning and purpose of San Francisco.
We are now at the brink of macro and micro mega technology trends designed to create more connectivity throughout our lives. Sure that means we will gradually become more “plugged-in” but is that such a bad thing?