Kik

[rangersfan]

Kik has seen lots of growth over the past few years
Now the company has an evaluation of $1 billion.

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/mobile/kik-c...-1.2522701

[numberguy]

Great vote of confidence by Tencent (I am struggling to make a Curtis Jackson joke (Fiddy), but am too tired from work).

WeChat has great acceptance and cross-monetization in a huge market. If Kik can get a fraction (10%? haha) of that, it'd be huge. North America is so far behind Africa and Asia in terms of mobile payment acceptance. The PayPal spinoff and Apple banking initiatives show some catch up is in the works, however.

[rangersfan]

Article on Kik's CEO Ted Livingston, some nice insight into the mind of a young successful executive.

http://m.therecord.com/news-story/712432...the-region

[plam]

Article on Kik's CEO Ted Livingston, some nice insight into the mind of a young successful executive.

http://m.therecord.com/news-story/712432...the-region

Was not a fan of his attempts to revolutionize our urban planning, nor of how he is one of the people around here who think "hmm, why can't we attract talent, must surely not be that we're paying 50% less than the Bay Area".

[Viewfromthe42]

Article on Kik's CEO Ted Livingston, some nice insight into the mind of a young successful executive.

http://m.therecord.com/news-story/712432...the-region

Was not a fan of his attempts to revolutionize our urban planning, nor of how he is one of the people around here who think "hmm, why can't we attract talent, must surely not be that we're paying 50% less than the Bay Area".

I'm curious what you think of this post by another local tech company, regarding pay: https://medium.com/@srlake/debunking-the....mrfgmigos

[plam]

Was not a fan of his attempts to revolutionize our urban planning, nor of how he is one of the people around here who think "hmm, why can't we attract talent, must surely not be that we're paying 50% less than the Bay Area".

I'm curious what you think of this post by another local tech company, regarding pay: https://medium.com/@srlake/debunking-the....mrfgmigos

Does not add up. I asked people who are living in SF to comment.

https://www.facebook.com/patrick.lam.338...h=c3JsYWtl

[tomh009]

I'm curious what you think of this post by another local tech company, regarding pay: https://medium.com/@srlake/debunking-the....mrfgmigos

Does not add up. I asked people who are living in SF to comment.

https://www.facebook.com/patrick.lam.338...h=c3JsYWtl

Not every company hands out equity.  Nor does it always have value.  And certainly some companies here do that as well.

I think the key take-away from Stephen Lake's post (above) is that in general it's not a slam dunk based on financials alone.  Depending on individual circumstances (offers in Canada or US, desired housing type, family, spousal employment etc) it could be better or worse.  And if you don't make your life decisions based on financials alone, then there are a lot of other factors to consider to evaluate the quality of life, and which country you prefer to live in.

Personally I had an opportunity to move to the left coast to work for a technology company.  I didn't take it, though -- and I have no regrets.

[Pheidippides]

Wasn't he the one the started an anti-LRT petition because LRT would not improve his personal commuting pattens/options?

[Viewfromthe42]

Yes, yes he was. He was an ally of Halloran's on the anti-LRT side, but not for an exceedingly long time, it was a brief oppositional stand, but indeed one that did not make me fond of him, let alone the never-disproven allegations that Kik was BBM taken from his time there as a co-op.

[Markster]

Wasn't he the one the started an anti-LRT petition because LRT would not improve his personal commuting pattens/options?

He had a reasonable point about how his commute was more difficult than it should be. He lives and works (at least, Kik was on King St N of Weber at the time) on King St, but can't simply take The King Bus.
The answer to that has been staring GRT in the face for years.

Unfortunately, it came out as misplaced dislike of the LRT plan.

[SammyOES2]

That post about cost of living is kind of absurd, imo. Just a quick obvious example, it leaves out any expenses related to a car. Totally reasonable for living in SF. Not as reasonable (without a significantly lower standard of living) in Waterloo.

There's no reason someone needs to spend $200/week eating out in SF. There are hundreds of amazing food places with cheap and delicious food. Certainly more variety than you'll find in Waterloo.

There's no way comparable entertainment is more expensive (especially before currency conversion) between SF and Waterloo. Tons of free or almost free activities in a city that size and diversity.

I personally see the appeal of the Waterloo region (obviously). But that blog post is a bullshit comparison that seems to be trying to justify paying lower wages here.

[tomh009]

There's no reason someone needs to spend $200/week eating out in SF.  There are hundreds of amazing food places with cheap and delicious food.

Yes, you can eat cheaply or expensively anywhere.  But as an anecdote, I ate at a (fairly ordinary) Thai restaurant in SF on Thursday night.  A Thai curry main course cost US$24, or about C$32, once I include the rice.  At Northern Thai it's C$11.  Really, eating out is definitely more expensive in SF.  And you would expect it to be, because the rents the restaurants pay are far higher than here, and that drives up the cost of everything.

[SammyOES2]

There's no reason someone needs to spend $200/week eating out in SF.  There are hundreds of amazing food places with cheap and delicious food.

Yes, you can eat cheaply or expensively anywhere.  But as an anecdote, I ate at a (fairly ordinary) Thai restaurant in SF on Thursday night.  A Thai curry main course cost US$24, or about C$32, once I include the rice.  At Northern Thai it's C$11.  Really, eating out is definitely more expensive in SF.  And you would expect it to be, because the rents the restaurants pay are far higher than here, and that drives up the cost of everything.

But I could find thai restaurants much cheaper than that in SF.  And rent isn't the only cost.  Food and labour are costs can be cheaper in SF.  Not to mention its not just costs that determine prices.

I'm less familiar with SF, but very familiar with NYC where many of the same ideas apply.  There are tons of cheap and quality options that easily dwarf anything available in KW.  So to say that "eating out is definitely more expensive in SF" is just false.  For any set budget, I'd argue you can eat much better in a major diverse city like NYC/SF than you could ever eat in KW.

Edit: And not to mention that its kind of an absurd thing to put in their example budget.  There are a lot of people that are coming out of school and avoiding having multiple expensive meals for 2 every week.  It's not a realistic budget, and just used to bullshit.

[MidTowner]

"For any set budget, I'd argue you can eat much better in a major diverse city like NYC/SF than you could ever eat in KW."

All things being equal, there are more choices in a bigger city than a smaller city. In Toronto, there are a plethora of choices of restaurants at every budget. That's not true in a smaller centre. I think it's a fair point: if you're a young grad starting out, and want to do things on the cheap, there are more opportunities in a big centre to do that.

I question the "groceries" line item for the same reason. I have no doubt that the average household in San Francisco spends more on groceries than the average household in KW. But there's a lot more opportunity to scrimp in a big city with many more options for groceries on a budget, and food prices are less in the U.S. than Canada generally.

It's totally bizarre and disingenuous not to reference transportation costs. After housing, that it is a household's single biggest line item. It costs about $10,000 a year to operate a vehicle in Canada and, while you can do it for less, it is still a significant cost, and going without a car is (unfortunately) not very common in Waterloo Region. It is worth a lot of foregone salary to live in a place where one can avoid the cost of a car.

[tomh009]

It is worth a lot of foregone salary to live in a place where one can avoid the cost of a car.

At least one of the neighbours in our building is going without a car.  So is a friend who lives three blocks away.  Bicycle, bus and transit -- and car rental/share when needed. It's not as easy as in a bigger city but it certainly can be done here, too.  The biggest challenge is groceries, but Sobey's is a 20-minute walk away, and hopefully J&P will open soon, too.

And it's worth noting here that if you decide to accept a job at, say, Google, you will likely be driving.  And probably not living in a downtown environment, either.  Downtown SF to Googleplex is a two-hour commute each way, whether by car or train.  So "Google" and "SF" are really two separate conversations, even if they are only 60 km apart -- kind of like "DTK" and "Toronto".