This January 2016 CNBC news report by Ari Levy and Josh Lipton explains why this is critical in maintaining a start-up culture in Palo Alto.
“The CIA-backed start-up that's taking over Palo Alto”, CNBC January 2016, see Web Link
The article quotes numerous small businesses including start-ups that have been priced out of downtown. The downtown ground floor is zoned for retail creating a façade that belies the transformation from small start-up and small business to big business in our downtown business community.
“Jeff Clavier, a prominent venture investor in early-stage start-ups, moved his main office from Palo Alto to San Francisco because of a lack of investment opportunities. His last Palo Alto-based start-up, marketing software developer Kahuna, left Palo Alto in late 2015 for a 42,000-square-foot space in Redwood City.
"Start-ups cannot compete against Palantir and sign super long leases at top dollar," said Clavier, founder of SoftTech VC. "Now, you just have a bunch of Palantirians hanging out in P.A. There's nothing wrong with that except it once had a vibrant start-up community and that's gone."
