Looking to move to SF in a month or two (will try out a STR first, and if I like that then I'll commit).
My main goals are to : 1. Be around more like minded people (especially with tech and business) 2. Increase my business opportunities and expand my mindset. 3. Make lifelong friends 4. Form mutually beneficial relationships (wrt business/tech)
To be clear, I run a mobile game dev studio with my family, so I have plenty busy with my own projects (not looking for work), but I want to get ahead of the curve some more and increase my opportunities.
Don't think anyone wants to read my life story, so I'll leave it at that.
Any advice? General or specific, I'll take anything.
Look at Austin, Denver, Atlanta, or Chicago instead. You don't need a 1,000 startups around you when you'll only ever interact with a few dozen.
Sadly the time to move to the SF bay was in the early 1990's. So, don't chase someone else's dreams.
Your goals can be met easily by going to university. Actually, best met. Go. You're not done learning, you've only just begin. Don't feel weird that you'll be 5-7 years older than everyone else. Just be cool. Keep your head down, filter your friends fiercely. Don't be a creep or a douche, haha. Then graduate with a degree and a wife and a bevy of friends.
Don't want to go to university? Making friends is going to be 1000x harder. No joke.
* When I first moved to SF I got a 1br apartment, but later rented a very nice 2br2ba flat as the "master tenant" and got a "subtenant" roommate. Maybe you wouldn't consider having a roommate, but it's nice to have someone else around. If you set the rent price relatively low for a high-end apartment where each person has a private bathrm, you'll get more roommate applications than you can handle. Winnow the emails down to dozen or so. When you interview a dozen candidates, there's almost always one person who stands out as someone who would make for a great flatmate. (Warning: if you rent a 3br place and get 2 roommates, it's a lot more complicated. Difficult to know who did what, e.g. left food in the frig, etc)
* You might consider joining a lot of meetup.com groups. I joined literally over 100 SF-based groups and during the 2010's would go to at least 2-3 per month. I stopped going to meetups during the pandemic but it seems like in-person meetups are ramping up again.
* You run a mobile game studio? Join the Stanford Games/Entrepreneurs list. https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/gsb-videogames It doesn't have as much chatter as it used to, but every once in a while there's some insider discussion. I used to be in the game industry, so I'd offer to connect you with people, but it's been some years so my contacts are kinda old.
* Your main goals are mostly professional, but consider the opportunity for other things. When I first moved here, it was supposed to be temporary for maybe 3 years max, so I tried to take advantage of things here that I couldn't do back in Atlanta. I did things like: every winter I joined a shared ski house in Tahoe, I volunteered as a National Park Service docent at the Point Bonita Lighthouse, and did more biking/hiking/outdoor stuff that I rarely did in Atlanta bc it was too hot there. This mindset turned out to be a nice forcing function to push me to do things that I wouldn't have done otherwise. Like, you're right by the ocean so you might consider taking up scuba, surfing, kayaking.
* Feel free to contact me. My email is in my profile.
Be careful of the homeless and the drug addicts. Spread some cash around the homeless that frequent where you live so that they aren't hostile. Don't step on any poop, and keep an eye out for needles when you walk.
Oh and leave your car unlocked with the windows down. Don't leave any valuables in your car. Don't venture outside at night unless you are streetwise and know how to handle yourself.
Second, say yes to any and every social invitation and opportunity you have.
Don't work for big tech. Find a startup.