Recently I’ve heard increased talk from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists that employee loyalty and retention is an even more serious issue in the Valley that isn’t as top-of-mind for entrepreneurs considering where to locate their startup. The idea is that in the Valley there’s a culture of people moving jobs every year to try and get in early at the next pre-IPO startup, and, of course, most startups don’t make it, so people keep changing jobs quickly.
For us, we have over 100 employees, have been in business five-and-a-half years, and have only had five people voluntarily leave us (along with ~10 that have involuntarily left). Building a strong corporate culture and great place to work is an incredible competitive advantage anywhere, but especially powerful is markets outside the Valley that have greater employee loyalty and less turnover.
The next time you think through pros and cons of your startup’s city, add employee loyalty as an important factor.
What else? What are some other thoughts on employee loyalty as a strong non-Valley benefit?
David Cummings on Startups 
Employee loyalty saves the time on training and developing new hires which in turn saves the company money. It also brings consistency to the the product which the company is trying to deliver.