I find it even in the case when two or more founders were involved in starting some of these most successful companies only one of the founders took the initiative in the very early days.
The truth is it only takes one person to start something. And once you build something that has or can have tremendous value people will just join you naturally.
There is no such thing as the perfect moment to start something. You just have to do it and keep doing it and things will happen.
I think the obvious solution is to look for another job. I know some startups that hire for remote work in San Fran. Reddit does it among many others. There is a huge engineering talent vacuum so it's a good likelihood for you to find employment working remote. It may be easier to pitch a really early stage startup given you are not actively developing. You may not get scores of salary though but more than likely you can make a little over six figures.
I think by posting this question here you know what you want to do. Now, I hope you can just go and do it - good luck!
The truth is it only takes one person to start something. And once you build something that has or can have tremendous value people will just join you naturally.
There is no such thing as the perfect moment to start something. You just have to do it and keep doing it and things will happen.