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This is a good article for pointing out the some of the great work going on in SV and why it's an engine for innovation. That said, the Juicero was ultimately

by hvs 9y ago

This is a good article for pointing out the some of the great work going on in SV and why it's an engine for innovation. That said, the Juicero was ultimately panned because it was a bag squeezing machine (and not a very good one), but it is also the sort of cynical ploy that requires a wifi-connection to "check the expiration date" when we all know it was to enforce their DRMed juice packets. The investors weren't upset that it was a ridiculous product, they were upset that it was suddenly not a Keurig-style landfill-stuffing nightmare that they could charge ridiculous sums to people for DRMed juice. To paint SV with the Juicero brush is unfair, but let's not pretend there aren't tons of people (and VCs) in SV that would kill to get funding (or fund) just that sort of product.

x2398dh1 9y ago
That's precisely what SV has become - an engine for innovation, rather than a set geographic area. About 6-7 years ago people started referring to San Fransisco as, "Silicon Valley," which, geographically is not true, but it has become accepted because people know that both areas follow a particular brand of innovation. The culture and ways of creating certain types of business models which may have originated largely in Silicon Valley have spread to other areas, much as the London-based capitalist thinking of the 1600s-1700s has now spread across the globe, or the Dongguan-based capitalist legal structure has spread across China since the 1980s. The term, "Silicon Valley," doesn't even make sense anymore as there are no longer any silicon fabs left in Silicon Valley. When you have all sorts of cities and places around the US saying, "We'll we're the silicon valley of X," or "We're Silicon Prairie." What they are literally saying is, "we're going to start up a bunch of silicon fabs in this region," but what they are actually saying is, "we aspire to be super innovative and follow this particular brand of ethos and culture." Technological capability tends to be spread out over the world, and teams tend to work remotely. The author of this article is not even based in Silicon Valley, he claims to be based in the midwest. I am not based in Silicon Valley but I work with people from there all the time. I also work with people in Denver, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Chicago, etc., who are interested in this innovative industry. Wrapping ones identity up in a particular city-based geographic region to an excessive degree is almost as bad as being an outright nationalist. This city-nationalist way thinking prevents the free flow of ideas. When people attack Silicon Valley in the news or blogs, they are creating a thesis against the idea of software and internet-based business models as a whole, rather than a geographic region.
- rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
  I disagree. Silicon Valley represents a distinct form of tech capitalism, characterized by the 10x firms and sky-high valuations of products that have yet to make a cent in profit. Tech capitalism has a different tone in other places. A friend of mine works remotely for a company based in the Midwest, and the corporate/VC culture is worlds apart from Silicon Valley/San Francisco.
  - FussyZeus 9y ago
    While this comment is perhaps a little more cynical that I would've gone with, the fact is that a whole lot of the most valuable SV companies have never turned one bit of actual profit. When regulations finally come about that put the lid on a lot of the personal information market, a whole lot of these companies are going to have to find a way to make money that doesn't involve scraping user's information, and I think that will be a red letter day for a lot of these companies.
- FiatLuxDave 9y ago
  While I agree that the SV mindset has spread around the world, I think it is a mistake to overlook the geographic concentration of capital in SV. If Juicero had been located in Kansas City I doubt the story would have gone the same: they never would have been funded. The geographic concentration of VC firms in SV, coupled with VC preference to fund nearby startups they can keep a close eye on, creates a barrier to entry for getting new ideas funded. For the last few years, a bad idea in SV had a better chance of getting funded than a good idea elsewhere. Meanwhile, here in Cape Canaveral, there is not a single VC firm. The issue with SV isn't that it funds all kinds of crazy ideas. That is great, and how innovation happens. Some of those crazy ideas turn out to be crazy for a reason, some turn out to be crazy because they are genius. The issue is that good ideas elsewhere in the country are at a disadvantage if they don't play the game and move to SV. I don't want to pick on Moon Express, because I'm a big fan of privatized spaceflight, but it says a lot that landing a robot on the moon is being done by SV guys who came to Cape Canaveral, rather than Cape Canaveral guys who went to SV. That has a lot more to do with funding availability than mindset.

by hvs 9y ago

x2398dh1 9y ago

That's precisely what SV has become - an engine for innovation, rather than a set geographic area. About 6-7 years ago people started referring to San Fransisco as, "Silicon Valley," which, geographically is not true, but it has become accepted because people know that both areas follow a particular brand of innovation. The culture and ways of creating certain types of business models which may have originated largely in Silicon Valley have spread to other areas, much as the London-based capitalist thinking of the 1600s-1700s has now spread across the globe, or the Dongguan-based capitalist legal structure has spread across China since the 1980s. The term, "Silicon Valley," doesn't even make sense anymore as there are no longer any silicon fabs left in Silicon Valley. When you have all sorts of cities and places around the US saying, "We'll we're the silicon valley of X," or "We're Silicon Prairie." What they are literally saying is, "we're going to start up a bunch of silicon fabs in this region," but what they are actually saying is, "we aspire to be super innovative and follow this particular brand of ethos and culture." Technological capability tends to be spread out over the world, and teams tend to work remotely. The author of this article is not even based in Silicon Valley, he claims to be based in the midwest. I am not based in Silicon Valley but I work with people from there all the time. I also work with people in Denver, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Chicago, etc., who are interested in this innovative industry. Wrapping ones identity up in a particular city-based geographic region to an excessive degree is almost as bad as being an outright nationalist. This city-nationalist way thinking prevents the free flow of ideas. When people attack Silicon Valley in the news or blogs, they are creating a thesis against the idea of software and internet-based business models as a whole, rather than a geographic region.

rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
I disagree. Silicon Valley represents a distinct form of tech capitalism, characterized by the 10x firms and sky-high valuations of products that have yet to make a cent in profit. Tech capitalism has a different tone in other places. A friend of mine works remotely for a company based in the Midwest, and the corporate/VC culture is worlds apart from Silicon Valley/San Francisco.
- FussyZeus 9y ago
  While this comment is perhaps a little more cynical that I would've gone with, the fact is that a whole lot of the most valuable SV companies have never turned one bit of actual profit. When regulations finally come about that put the lid on a lot of the personal information market, a whole lot of these companies are going to have to find a way to make money that doesn't involve scraping user's information, and I think that will be a red letter day for a lot of these companies.
FiatLuxDave 9y ago
While I agree that the SV mindset has spread around the world, I think it is a mistake to overlook the geographic concentration of capital in SV. If Juicero had been located in Kansas City I doubt the story would have gone the same: they never would have been funded. The geographic concentration of VC firms in SV, coupled with VC preference to fund nearby startups they can keep a close eye on, creates a barrier to entry for getting new ideas funded. For the last few years, a bad idea in SV had a better chance of getting funded than a good idea elsewhere. Meanwhile, here in Cape Canaveral, there is not a single VC firm. The issue with SV isn't that it funds all kinds of crazy ideas. That is great, and how innovation happens. Some of those crazy ideas turn out to be crazy for a reason, some turn out to be crazy because they are genius. The issue is that good ideas elsewhere in the country are at a disadvantage if they don't play the game and move to SV. I don't want to pick on Moon Express, because I'm a big fan of privatized spaceflight, but it says a lot that landing a robot on the moon is being done by SV guys who came to Cape Canaveral, rather than Cape Canaveral guys who went to SV. That has a lot more to do with funding availability than mindset.