The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, along with Wiktionary, Wikibooks, WikiNews, Wikispecies, and other peer-produced content sites, is moving its headquarters from St. Petersburg, Florida to San Francisco in January. It should have an easier time recruiting Web developers and engineers, and will be closer to its for-profit sibling, Wikia, which is based in San Mateo. Founder Jimmy Wales is still keeping his residence in Florida.
by Erick Schonfeld on October 10, 2007
If they’re actively recruiting, this will be a very good move for them.
One serious earth quake could wipe out 90% of the traffic on the web.
90% of the traffic on the web? Are we on the same web? Everybody knows 90% of the web is not kidfriendly ;P
“Everybody knows 90% of the web is not kidfriendly ;P”
Those companies are also Southern Cali-centralized. I’ve been here for a while. I used to contract for some of them.
Good move for them. I had my startup in Florida then moved it outside of NYC for the opportunities. Florida, IMO, is not conducive to launching .com businesses. For whatever reason, it’s just not an incubation-friendly place. I miss the weather though.
i hate it how it’s so cliche to launch(to have to) a startup in the bay area
slow news day?
Good luck!
Me rikey. Are they posting jobs yet?
lawrence: you really consider wikimedia to be a startup?
Is it just me, or is Erick a really boring journalist? Ok, just checking.
lawrence - I agree. Our attorneys on Sand Hill told us flat-out that if we wanted to get off the ground, we had to re-locate. At that time, we told them to go fly a kite. We didn’t know anyone out there except for them, and have connections through MIT alum so the NE made more sense to us. Looking back now though, I can see how the culture and mentality is more conducive to start-ups…depending on the industry you’re after. There are plenty of successful start-ups outside the Valley.
They will not like it there! 2mnyFrks
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Hello! I’ve recruited in the Bay Area and in places across the country. The bay area was the worst area to recruit, people thought Waaaaaaaaaaay too much of themselves (credentials-wise, and financially) AND the people had little longevity, so we had to KEEP recruiting even after hiring one after another.
No, when I start another start-up, it will be nowhere near San Francisco. Give me a nice mid-western city near a university with a decent Comp-Sci program. Pittsburgh, Columbus, etc. It’s a proven formula (for me), and I wouldn’t chance a high priced failure with the over-inflated salaries and egos.
Too old, I read the same article 2 days ago on some other popular blog.
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
Hmm … “consider wikimedia to be a startup?” … interesting way of viewing it
find terms for wiktionary faster with qwiktionary…
http://www.qwiktionary.com
Interesting info. Thanks!
Note to all those who commented above and who do not understand the value of this post: Wikipedia is one of the 3 most important sites on the Internet. A relocation, or even a far more minor change, is news.
The issue, for me, is whether the WikiEmpire will begin to soak up start-up culture prevalent in the SF area.