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Weekly UpdatesTALK about unfortunate timing. At a recent tech conference in Los Angeles, organizers scheduled a panel discussion on the advantages the L.A. tech community has over Silicon Valley. But minutes after the panel started, one of the panelists, the chief executive of a highly acclaimed West Hollywood startup, announced he was moving his company--to Silicon Valley.
David Sacks, the head of Yammer.com, said July 31 that he would pull his company out of its offices on Sunset Boulevard and mine to San Francisco. The company's 30 employees headed north last week.
The move is a blow to L.A,'s tech scene, which took great pride in Yammer. The company, which offers a blogging service for businesses, won a coveted award at a Silicon Valley conference last year and recently raised $5 million in capital.
Sacks' other L.A. area startup, Geni.com, which helps users to track their family genealogy online, will remain in West Hollywood--for now. Keith McCarty, marketing manager for Yammer, said Geni may also move to Silicon Valley, possibly as soon as its building lease expires or when the company can negotiate an early end to the lease.
Sacks said that while the LA. tech community had grown over the past several years, he felt Silicon Valley offered more experienced entrepreneurs, better access to capital and a more evolved business environment.
"Obviously you can be successful anywhere and you can assemble a great team anywhere," Sacks said at Twiistup 6, an LA. tech showcase and conference in Universal City. "And I'm not trying to put anybody down."
He said the issue was where to find the best engineers, adding, 'I don't even think it's a question that that place is Silicon Valley."
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The announcement clearly surprised members of the audience, a couple of whom booed when Sacks broke the news. Sacks' fellow panelists quickly raced to defend L.A. tech.
"I accept your decision and I don't think it's wrong," said Mark Suster, a panner at venture capital firm GRP Partners in Century City and another one of the panelists. "But I just don't think moving to Silicon Valley is for everybody."
Staff reporter Charles Proctor can be reached at cproctor@labusinessjournal.com or (323) 549-5225, ext. 230.
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