We went from downtown Berkeley to downtown Oakland, and when renewing our lease and deciding how to expand, decided to stay in Oakland. Great inbetween for SF + East Bay teammates, urban area, and plenty of room to expand.
Interestingly, unless you're focusing on primarily VC-funded style growth, it's easier to get spaces near BART outside of SF. We've always been within 2 blocks!
Edit: as a data point, the last ~4 Berkeley companies my colleagues started all did Berkeley->Oakland somewhere between the 3-10 person point.
I worked at Sybase starting in 1990, shortly after they moved from Berkeley to Emeryville. I don't know the full details but office space probably played a big role. At its peak Sybase was one of the largest tenants in Emeryville.
At this point I would probably go for Oakland as well, in part because of the excellent BART access.
Interestingly, unless you're focusing on primarily VC-funded style growth, it's easier to get spaces near BART outside of SF. We've always been within 2 blocks!
Edit: as a data point, the last ~4 Berkeley companies my colleagues started all did Berkeley->Oakland somewhere between the 3-10 person point.