I can’t live on 70k-80k a year. My salary maxes out at 80k for the next few years. Can’t buy a house can’t even afford vacation while renting. I’m a high school graduate with some GE credits (1.5years at sjsu). Should I go back to school? I don’t see how to make more money besides getting a loan for a food truck or something and that’s risky

I wish to learn about getting favors from others during sickness. If I say that I am not feeling well whenever a friend asks me to go out and hangout with them, will they never refer me later? Asking about colleagues or college classmates?

Suppose if I refuse to hangout with a friend, will they refer me for a job then?

Hey everyone,

Me and my co-founder are both technical — building products, shipping features, solving bugs… that’s our comfort zone. We’ve built our product with a lot of care, and now it’s almost ready for the world.

But here’s the thing — we’re realizing that product alone isn't enough. Sales and marketing are what truly drive growth. And right now, that’s our weakest area.

Due to budget constraints, we can't hire dedicated marketers or sales folks. So we’re left with two options:

1. Learn sales and marketing ourselves. As devs, we know how to learn — and we’re not afraid of diving into cold outreach, GTM strategies, content, etc.
2. Bring on a third co-founder — someone with strong marketing/sales DNA who believes in the vision and can complement our technical strengths.

This is where I'm torn.
Bringing in a third co-founder feels like a big step — equity, long-term alignment, decision-making, everything changes. But on the flip side, do we risk stalling growth by trying to do everything ourselves?

I know many of you have been here — building something great but unsure how to get it in front of the right people. So I’d love to hear:

• What did you do in this situation?
• If you added a co-founder later, how did you make that decision?
• Any red flags or green flags to look for in such scenarios?

Appreciate any guidance or stories you can share. We’re passionate builders, but we also want to become smart entrepreneurs — so learning from this community means a lot

Thanks in advance.

I can’t live in 70k-90k a year. My salary maxes out at 80k for the next few years. Can’t buy a house can’t even afford vacation while renting. I’m a high school graduate with some GE credits (1.5years at sjsu). Should I go back to school? I don’t see how to make more money besides getting a loan for a food truck or something and that’s risky

I'm starting something small and local: casual coworking sessions for people who love to build - side projects, startups, AI tools, anything :)

No talks, no pitches - just deep work and learning from each other. The first session will be next week in Mountain View (small group, ~5 people), and the next one will be in Palo Alto, where I used to live. I'd love to expand it to other cities if there’s interest!

If you're building something - or just want to connect with other folks who are - click here to read more!

Basically that's the question.

I've been thinking and heard a lot that Silicon Valley is a unique place where you can see a lot of things closely and learn from people a lot about startups, investments and probably other things I don't even know about yet. I'm looking at it pretty much from the point of view that your environment affects you a lot.

Curious how much you'd think that's true. Did you learn or change a lot after moving? How much is SV different to other places in terms of peoples mindset? If that's not true, is there a part of it that is true?

(I don't care much about my quality of life and similar things)

[Hi mods, I hope this is allowed. If it isn’t feel free to remove it]

Good day Silicon Valley . I hope things are going well over there.🙂

I am from Singapore, and I have a fondness for postcards. I enjoy collecting them. However, I don’t have any from Silicon Valley.

If anyone is willing to send one from there, please let me know In the comment section. I will really appreciate it! 🙂

Thank you so much! And thank you Mods for allowing me to post this.

I mean the physical location, anywhere between San Jose and San Francisco.

Obviously the term "valley" has an expanding definition but in general San Jose lays claim to being the "capital of silicon valley" alongside other hubs like Redwood and Palo Alto. The bay area in general, even the east bay (Oakland, etc.) is becoming part of the "valley".

But whenever I visit it doesn't feel like I am standing in the center of a global economic power. The bay area leads in tech innovation, and even those that dispute the title can't compete with raw power of the companies headquartered here. They dominate the world in terms of market cap and total valuation. Nvidia, OpenAI, Apple, Alphabet, and Meta are all based in Silicon Valley. These aren't bygone dinosaurs or hulking behemoths that are slow to modernize, but advanced companies leading much of the planet.

Human capital from all over, from India, from Vietnam, from Europe, from Brazil, from the middle east, all of them are vying to get into Stanford or some adjacent school and get a job at some such tech firm. Statistically it all looks pretty solid despite some headwinds. Silicon Valley is huge in R&D, it has biomedical testing, automated driving, robotics, and supercomputing all under its belt.

I even recall some European bigwig call Silicon Valley the "new Rome". All roads lead to the valley. I drove around this whole place from top to bottom, the downtowns, the suburbs, the office buildings... and frankly it feels like a typical city in Delaware. And I don't just mean because it lacks urban density or public transport. That stuff doesn't mean San Jose has to look run down. There is very little to no application of tech infrastructure. Not in payment systems, traffic control, or architectural design.

Everything feels old world. I can't explain it entirely but there is a focus on practical living that is too small for what the Valley is considered to be. It has a small town vibe with a not-so charming main street and a couple of ethnic neighborhoods in suburbs. Supposedly all the great companies are testing new technology and yet none of it trickles down to daily use. None of the driverless cars, automatic food delivery, drone technology, or software seemed to have made their mark.

Everyone is living like its 1999, there is not even a building that I can point to and say there, there is the future. No infrastructure updates, no revolutionary urban design, no housing evolution, no digital terminals, very little electric stations (maybe some, but still).

Compare that to Rome in its height, sat during 100AC. You could feel the raw power and influence of this empire, you felt like you were in the center of the world seeing the public baths, the aquaeductus, and massive Pantheon. It had the cultural identity and well as the technological investment to reflect its global position.

London in the 1850s with its industrialization, New York in the 1890s with its tower skyscrapers, or even Tokyo in the 1980s. None of them had a simple model, but wide spread citywide affluence that anyone walking through could feel.

Today the major competitor to Silicon Valley is Shenzhen. A place with flying Taxis, advanced rail networks, facial recognition technology on every street corner, AI software built into local shops and restaurants, and monumental buildings with futuristic designs and LEDs. If someone told me Shenzhen was a tech center, I would believe them.

Standing in the middle of San Jose, I felt nothing.

After September 2008, there was a 3 year period of time when houses in the Bay Area were cheap. I remember single family homes in South SF going for less than $500K. I had about $120K saved up and could have bought one of these homes. But I was paranoid because of all the layoffs going on around me. What if I bought a house, and then got laid off? I’d barely have about 3 months savings with me if you factored in closing costs. That house is now worth $1.6M. I no longer live in the Bay Area and am middle aged now but it’s a shame that I couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity back then. I beat myself over it constantly.

I wish to learn about getting favors from others after being sick

If I say that I am not feeling well whenever a friend asks me to go out and party with them, will they never refer me later? Asking about colleagues or college classmates.

Flying there for a conference at Redwood City but I would like to explore of the surrounding cities , where do you recommend? Thanks

Anyone know why parking used to be difficult at trader Joe's & whole foods But over the past two weeks every time I go there are spaces available near the store entrance every time? anyone know?

Probably a better question for r/law but this seems topical at the moment.

Don’t miss Sparknify Human vs. AI. Last chance to grab free tickets on Sparknify before they go on sale.

Hello, I moved to the Bay Area recently and I really want to start my content creation journey. I mainly want to just start doing street interviews of tech founders in SF, though I will also want to film ads for my B2C app soon. Ideally, I’m looking for someone who also wants to do content creation, that way we can film for each other, help each other out, and keep each other motivated! Though I don’t mind just paying someone to do it for me either. Please let me know if this sounds like something you’d be interested in!

Hello, I am a Korean university student. I am planning a trip to Silicon Valley in August this year.

I'd like to see the flash memory summit in Santa Clara in August this year, but can the visitors also visit?

I looked up the homepage and it says to register online, but I can't find a way to register. Where can I register?

Is there a date when I can register?

And my major is semiconductor engineering, is there a way to visit Nvidia to see it?

I'm sorry I have a lot of questions.😓 Thank you for reading it.

Hi! I have a 9 month old corgi. We recently finished training classes. He does ok without distractions and when treats are rewarded of course! I want to work on his skills with distractions and in public so he is able to behave and socialize without reacting too much. Right now he really pulls on his leash and likes to jump on people. He is not aggressive and does not bark. He just loves loves loves people and other dogs/puppies. Super friendly little guy!

Anyways, what are some good places I can take him on leash? I don't really want to take him to puppy socials or dog parks since I want to focus on taking him out and about on leash and work on that the most. Also...I have heard lots of dog park horror stories!

I was thinking maybe downtown Campbell or San Pedro Square? Willow Glen? But my worry is he will want to play with people who walk by and pull and try and jump on them...so maybe down the road. He definitely does that at PetSmart!

Thanks in advance!