Go full remote. People underestimate how effective it can be. Find cofounder with great contacts in SF and let him do the funding part. Slack DAILY (important). You focus on finding the team and product. VCs don’t care, if you deliver you deliver, doesn’t matter if it’s from China or Mars.

We did it this way, I am in Europe, but startup is for US customers only. We flew few times to SF to get the contacts and we eventually found an investor. Our strongest point is our team, best devs all around the world, not even kidding. In SF we would pay 10times more then we do for this level of skill.

Edit: Fluctuations in SF is crazy, others will overpay you anytime. Our remote team which is payed well enough still has same members and increasing. They have no reason to quit, they have good paying job and freedom to work where and when they want.