I think this is exactly how to do San Francisco. Go live there as a "young" person. Learn from the best, make great business contacts in life and enjoy it all! Don't sweat the fact you're renting a small place and paying a lot. You're young and it's a trivial point in the big picture of things. After 5 - 10 years your priorities will change. As you start to think about a partner/children etc you'll reassess how great it is to be there. You'll be better able to go somewhere else and be successful due to what you've learned and who you know.
For 100+ years young people have gone to NY/Manhattan with the same dream of making a lot of money. Very few had their heart set on living in Manhattan though forever. SF is just struggling because it's morphing into that place too now. I suspect, though don't know, that there was some point in NY's history where people wrung their hands about how it was becoming impossible to be middle class and buy a home and raise a family there due to rising costs/education etc.
Or you could live in one of the more affordable tech hubs like Austin or SLC, work just as hard, and still grow a successful start-up at a fraction of the cost.
If you're going to do the heat and traffic of Austin might as well pay 20% more in life and have the extra bang of SF/Bay Area. SLC - now that is a much smaller market and has much better outdoor options than Austin.
For 100+ years young people have gone to NY/Manhattan with the same dream of making a lot of money. Very few had their heart set on living in Manhattan though forever. SF is just struggling because it's morphing into that place too now. I suspect, though don't know, that there was some point in NY's history where people wrung their hands about how it was becoming impossible to be middle class and buy a home and raise a family there due to rising costs/education etc.