I'm part of two angel groups: one based in San Francisco and one in NYC. Our monthly meetings happened to be within 12 hours of each other this month, and damn it is so stark to see how different they are - the criteria that startups are evaluated on barely overlap at all

NYC group talks about valuation/deal price, historical revenue, IP, supply chain durability.
In the SF group, someone asked "what are the deal terms here?" and the angel shrugged and said "Let's assume they're raising $1m on a $5m valuation" and I said "Yeah, cause everyone is"

SF group talks about total addressable market size, execution risk, recurring revenue opportunities, market positioning, consumer demand, software margins.
The NYC group sees a nearly infinite stream of next-gen CPG brands.

but the number one strength of any deal presented is always the founding team, in both cities. The founders' determination, networking connections, vision, approach and personality trump everything else

as a founder of companies who didn't target the coastal elites, I always liked raising in NYC, e.g. investors knew stats about the market size of underbanked Americans off the tops of their head while (caricature) Silicon Valley would assume everyone has a Chase Sapphire Reserve