Secret of Bay Area Startup success

Witnessed the most successful companies

[AjiNIMC]

Hi,

I am not from Bay area and have neither visited US but been brought up hearing the bay area success stories. I am into HR now after devoting my major career and learning in Technology and marketing. I have few questions about Bay area startup success:-

• Does Bay area startup makes its employees a partner by offering stocks/partnership? How crucial is this move? In India we have employees but not offering any partnership as such and this may end up loosing the best brains who can create the right products.
  
• Is two or more partners make a better success formula than 1? How important is this factor?
  
• What else bay area startups do to retain the better brains?
  

I was ready the Google story where I see most of their employees stayed with Google, what made them so? Is it the stock options?

Thanks,
Aji

[grandpa]

The Bay Area is an overpopulated, overvalued spot of land, just waiting to become part of the bay. So whatever options are available, the best will relate to making life there just a bit better.

G runs it's own commuter service for employees, which from I understand is one of the best perks around, topping even the free gourmet menu. In an area with high density traffic the value of that service cannot be underestimated.

The Bay Area is also an extremely diverse community. It helps to recognize those diversities among the employees. G goes a step beyond most corporations in recognizing the value of individuality. Pets are allowed in the office, 20% free time for personal projects, etc.

In the dotcom boom, money was the big motivator. The end result was the shakeout that followed with some winners and many losers. For new G hires, the high stock value may not be the incentive that it was pre-IPO.

In short order, to obtain and retain the best, a company needs to be people-centric.

[AjiNIMC]

Thanks grandpa. Looking for other view points as well. Does Google pay really that high?