Ok. I think you might benefit from the move. You should do a trial run, though. Come out here and rent a cheap place for 3 months, and see what kind of connections you make here during that period of time.

Cheap places (and, as compared to NYC, very relaxed landlords with very easy sublet requirements) are mostly found in the East Bay. I live in Berkeley - compared to NYC and SF it is cheap and very close to downtown SF where you'll be spending most of your time networking anyway.

As far as I can tell, hiring techies here is just as bad as it is in NYC, so don't come here thinking all the programmers will line up to work for you.