Yeah I have been thinking of doing this. I was thinking of going to Nevada or another state without capital gains to finally start cashing out.
California is aggressive in going after people who leave the state, even years later, especially if you have a liquidity event shortly thereafter and/or plan to maintain ties to California. Keeping an address, coming back regularly to meet clients, etc. are all precisely the things the FTB uses to argue that people are still California residents.
During the cold war, Ronald Reagan correctly pointed out that one of the clearest indicators the Soviet Union and their allies were in the clutches of a failing ethos, was that they had to build walls to keep their own people in rather than to keep their enemies out.
If you're going to leave California, leave. Don't keep a California address, tell clients you're based in California, come back all the time to do business, etc.
I just feel uneasy leaving most of my professional network behind. Sometimes even the most trivial social interactions end up turning into very lucrative opportunities.