Why a Silicon Valley startup founder moved to Austin - Business Insider

When Ben Rahnema lived in San Francisco's Cole Valley neighborhood, he rented a one-bedroom apartment with his partner.Now, after moving to Austin, Texas, in early November, Rahnema has a three-bedroom house with front and back yards, a home gym, and a large home office — for about the same price.Rahnema, a Y Combinator grad and founder of a company backed by famed VC firm Initialized, represents one of many in Silicon Valley's tech talent pool who has decided to leave the Bay Area for Austin during the pandemic. And with so many moving to the capital city, more people began to consider the move to avoid feeling left out."There was a critical mass of people who were moving and, in kind of typical Silicon Valley fashion, everybody has FOMO and doesn't want to miss out on the next place," Rahnema said, calling the decision-making process "hive-minded."It seems that the tech community in Texas will only continue to grow — Oracle is moving its headquarters to Austin, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston is moving to the city, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he's moving to Texas.