My first impressions of San Francisco as a 17 y/o: - It's very easy to meet high quality people here. There are events everyday. I've met at least 3 CEOs of $100M+ companies, people are very accessible. - Same goes for research: Stanford offices literally have their doors open and you can see the professors. - In fact, the people might be the only benefit. But obviously if you network full-time you don't get any work done (which is the trap most are in), but for finding a job/internship definitely helps. - Big tech and startups are very different games. Big tech conversations are boring: about food, compensation, office, etc. - YC and VCs are glorified. Most don't even think about a business model, but just raising money. - Those that have enough of a following / personal brand have a lot of fun here. You see a lot of the people you know from Twitter etc, it's a dense network. - My biggest regret is not being known enough. It's fine to meet people and introduce yourself, but it's way better if they used your tool / have seen you before. - But I definitely made a lot of friends and validated the path I want to pursue. I'm taking a gap year (after not being accepted to US universities), and in a week I'll be back in Turkey. Will grind on products + do technical work!
