Stripe cofounder here. Quick comment to say that we're excited about the move. South San Francisco is a cooperative and open-minded city. In being an infrastructure company, we have to take a long-term view, and we think this can be a good for many years. And while the Bay is tricky from a commuting standpoint no matter what the location, the the presence of a marina right beside this site opens up a lot of interesting new transportation options for us throughout the Bay.
> And while the Bay is tricky from a commuting standpoint no matter what the location,
As someone who lives in the area, I like the fact that both BART & Caltrain cross-over right around the airport (I commute to Palo Alto and SF downtown). The addition of a Milbrae to South SF shuttle would cover both options with a single pickup (& even the folks who drive there to take BART to SF).
The Oyster pt marina is connected out of only Alameda & Oakland, but that does beat trying to get to either bridges in general particularly the 8:10 AM ferry out of Oakland / 5:10 out of Oyster pt.
And it is not just 101 northbound for this, taking 280 through 380 isn't too bad either - the traffic jam pretty much starts northbound at Sneath lane.
I'd say that this puts Stripe in a better location for commutes, though far away from all the other offices.
I know your compliance issues are complex compared to most companies and not everyone can work remotely, but why not keep the smaller office and rely more on remote workers?
South City is also one of the worst cities in the Bay Area in building offices and rejecting homes. The long-term view is that we need more homes near jobs. What are you doing to get South City to build more homes?
PC extremely vocal and active in advocating for better housing solutions in the Bay Area, particularly within SF proper. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a company to run, and to look out for its best interests given the existing state of regulations.
That said, South SF definitely seems like trading a worse commute for anyone in SF or the South Bay who rely on Muni/BART/Caltrain (presumably the majority of current and future Stripe employees) for improved commute options from parts of the East Bay (ferry) & the Peninsula (driving). This seems like a bet on a future tech flight from SF proper (to the Peninsula and East Bay). As someone hitting the point where I'm thinking about where I'd like to raise kids, this doesn't seem like a terribly bad bet to make, particularly as I see places I wouldn't have considered living at 24 evolve towards what I originally preferred about city life.
Hey Patrick. I drive past the current office quite frequently at night and notice most of the TV screens in the meeting rooms are left on (on a dark blue idle screen). For the sake of the planet, can you switch these off at the end of the day? It's frustrating to see such an innovative company wasting energy on something so easily fixed.
I really like what Stripe have done, and I think they're one of the few great startups from the last decade.
I'm surprised to hear that you didn't support Prop C. I've visited SF and was horrified by the homeless problem there, particularly in the face of huge inequality. Didn't you want to do something about that?
I live in Burlingame and the very large number of Genentech folks in the neighborhood suggests that a simple shuttle service to Millbrae BART and Burlingame Broadway can lead to an enhancement in quality of life for workers, particularly those with kids.
> interesting new transportation options for us throughout the Bay.
This sentence made me think - I wonder how expensive it would be for a startup to run a private boat commuting service. Google has their buses, but obviously they have near-limitless resources.
I live in inner richmond, and checked the difference in commute by public transportation, and it's sadly an hour longer. Even by car, during rush hour, it's likely over an hour from that area to your new location. Does stripe allow folks in San Francisco to work remotely?
