A Sam Altman-backed housebuilding startup is trying to convince tech workers to abandon the high-priced Bay Area as remote work gains in popularity
Housebuilding startup Atmos is trying to encourage tech workers to to relocate due to lockdowns. The startup launched a calculator showing workers in San Francisco Bay Are and other big cities what their rents would buy them if they worked remotely elsewhere in the US.
The pandemic lockdowns have forced huge numbers of people to work from home, and now some tech companies are introducing new permanent remote-work policies. On Thursday, Facebook announced that it expected up to half of all its employees to be remote within 5-10 years. The shift could help transform the San Francisco Bay Area, that has struggled for years from a high cost of living and housing crisis. The pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of tech workers in the San Francisco Bay Area unable to leave their overpriced homes — and some are now reconsidering their commitment to the region.He's the CEO of Atmos, a young housebuilding startup backed by former Y Combinator President Sam Altman that is trying to capitalize on the coronavirus crisis to get folks in Silicon Valley and other big cities to consider moving elsewhere in the US, where they can build their own home and enjoy a lower cost of living while working remotely. "A lot of people are already thinking, 'Why am I here? I live in a shoebox for $3,000,'" said Donahue in an interview with Business Insider. "People start to see the massive difference and start getting jaded ... people are realizing most of our meetings don't need to be in person." The tech industry has long had a fraught relationship with the Bay Area. Over the last few decades, the picturesque region has grown ever more crowded by tech workers, contributing to soaring costs of living, the worst housing crisis in the nation, endemic traffic, and myriad other issues. There have been predictions and calls for the industry to geographically decentralize for years — but the pandemic has the potential to make that a reality. Tech workers blocked from visiting their luxurious offices or enjoying the region's bars, parks, and other amenities are talking about finally ditching the region. High-profile companies like Twitter, Square, and Coinbase have announced shifts to permanent remote-work-first workplaces. And perhaps most consequentially,Workers at Atmos, including CEO Nick Donahue .Atmos is trying to simplify the housebuilding process, providing an all-in-one service to make it easier for people to build homes to their exact specifications in emerging cities where demand often outstrips the supply. It's early days for the business — it's been going for a little more than six months, and is currently breaking ground on its first four homes. Financial backers include Dropbox executive Adam Nash and Altman, a high-profile Bay Area investor who is now the CEO of OpenAI. Altman and Donahue met at a laser tag event on Angel Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. Its focus thus far has been in North Carolina, where the four-person cofounder team is from — in particular Raleigh, Durham, and Charlotte.Atmos launched a calculator to show workers in the Bay Area, New York, and other metropolitan hubs what their rents could get them elsewhere in the country if they builtA techie paying $2,400 a month on a 390-square foot one-bed apartment in San Francisco could buy a 2,500 square foot, three-bedroom house in Baltimore, Maryland, for example. A New Yorker paying $1,800 for a one-bed could splash out on a three bedroom place with more than twice the square footage in Kansas City, Missouri. Since launching the tool, it's been visited 40,000 times, Donahue said. One in 10 of those visitors were from the Bay Area, and of those, their top picks were Raleigh, North Carolina ; Austin, Texas ; Seattle, Washington ; Boulder, Colorado ; Chicago, Illinois ; and Portland, Oregon .Part of the appeal of relocating to somewhere like Raleigh, of course, is the understanding that workers could transfer their California tech industry-sized salaries to live large in a region with a much lower cost of living. But there's one potential wrinkle in this: if employers decide to adjust salaries to reflect where remote workers are living. Facebook has said it will start doing this in 2021; it's not yet clear if others will follow. Donahue is expecting a second wave of coronavirus in the fall, after lockdown restrictions are relaxed, and predicts it may spur further companies into allowing remote work. "With the second wave — we've already gotten these initial companies like Twitter say you can stay remote indefinitely — I think you'll see more and more companies doing that, especially startups."— reducing pressure on workers to relocate to California to work in the technology industry, and relaxing the strain on the region's economy and housing market.found that two-thirds would consider moving away if given the option to permanently work remotely.ncrypted email , s
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