58% of FAANG Employees Would Follow Tech Leaders To Emerging Tech Hubs

Elon Musk is the latest high-profile business leader to bolt from California because of its governance and cost. Musk said that the Bay Area “has too much influence on the world.”

Is America’s entrepreneurial and technology power dispersing beyond Silicon Valley and New York?

Blind, the largest anonymous professional community with 4.1M users from big tech, unicorns, and startups, asked the platform the following questions:

Survey questions

1. Do you think the technology power is dispersing from Silicon Valley?
2. Do you think Elon Musk leaving Silicon Valley will influence other tech leaders?
3. Would you follow tech leaders to emerging tech hubs if they were to relocate? 

Key learnings on 12/09-12/20 from over 1,500 survey respondents:

• 67% of professionals across all companies and industries think the technology power is dispersing from Silicon Valley
  • 63% of FAANG professionals think the technology power is dispersing from Silicon Valley
    • 74% of Facebook professionals think the technology power is dispersing from Silicon Valley
      • Contrasted by only 30% of Netflix professionals
  • 69% of finance professionals think the technology power is dispersing from Silicon Valley
    • 66% of tech professionals think so too
• More than half (59%) of professionals across all companies and industries think Elon Musk leaving Silicon Valley will influence other tech leaders
  • 53% of FAANG professionals think  Elon Musk leaving Silicon Valley will influence other tech leaders
    • However, 0% of Netflix professionals think Elon Musk leaving Silicon Valley will influence other tech leaders
      • Contrasted starkly by 72% of Apple professionals who think Elon Musk leaving Silicon Valley will influence other tech leaders
  • 65% of finance professionals think  Elon Musk leaving Silicon Valley will influence other tech leaders
    • Contrasted by 58% of tech professionals who hold this belief 
• 61% of professionals across all companies and industries said they would follow tech leaders to emerging tech hubs if they were to relocate
  • 58% of FAANG professionals said they would follow tech leaders to emerging tech hubs if they were to relocate
  • 69% of finance professionals said they would follow tech leaders to emerging tech hubs if they were to relocate

You can see the raw data here. 

Elon making this announcement is happening at the same time as workers are fleeing big cities. Musk moved to Texas, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale moved his venture firm from Silicon Valley to Austin, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co is moving to Houston.

Users on Blind are predicting this is just the beginning of a long trend.