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> Personally I think ego is part of the issue - VCs don't want to admit they don't always need "the best of the best talent" for their application. I'm sorry,

> Personally I think ego is part of the issue - VCs don't want to admit they don't always need "the best of the best talent" for their application. I'm sorry, but isn't that the same bigoted mindset? Unless there's real evidence that the valley actually has "the best of the best talent". Every time I see that claim, though, it boils down to some kind of circular logic. I would definitely agree SV folks think they're the best, but real evidence is lacking.

lotsofpulp 8y ago
The multitude of world changing organizations, especially by market cap, that have come out of SV is some evidence. Not that that means “best of the best”, but if I were to bet on where something transformative will come from, SV would still be on my short list. It’s all about playing the odds, not necessarily being absolute about statements like best of the best.
- jlarocco 8y ago
  There aren't many "world changing" organizations coming out of SV lately, and I'm not sure that claim holds in any case: http://fortune.com/fortune500/visualizations/ http://fortune.com/fortune500/visualizations/ Even narrowing down to "tech" companies, there are enough outliers that I don't buy it. Change it to "SV has the best developers searching for VC funding," and I believe it, but I'd still question the cause and effect of the situation...
  - scottlocklin 8y ago
    Hard agree. IMO the best tech talent in the US is in finance, telecom and oil, none of which are Valley based. Most of what comes out of the Valley these days is mountebanks with software written by overambitious undereducated kids. Older companies like Google, Oracle and so on still contain pockets of tech excellence, but you can't buy those guys with your startup idea.
Nasrudith 8y ago
I did put it in quotes to point out that it was considered an opinion. The real point was that they were doing routine work and paying like they are doing something new while working on a rehash. There is some evidence that they are in fact above average given repeated failures to outsource to lower cost locales. From many corporations who tend to be ruthless about cutting costs even at the risk of long term problems that stands out as /something/. There are also incompetents everywhere as demonstrated by some major and avoidable blunders. They may in fact be overpriced and there are people with said capabilities elsewhere. Mobility isn't perfect, one would expect there to be a talent concentration there based upon wages - even if they don't stick around the feather in their cap helps with future job seeking and wages. I am also aware not all sufficent talent is capable or wishes to of head there. However prejudicing in talent pools does no favors eithe. To take an absurd example recruiting for people who are Olympic body builder and Java developers when you really just need Java developers would pass up vast pools of talent and raise expenses for essentially no reason. That is an extreme case of pointless overspecification.

lotsofpulp 8y ago

The multitude of world changing organizations, especially by market cap, that have come out of SV is some evidence. Not that that means “best of the best”, but if I were to bet on where something transformative will come from, SV would still be on my short list. It’s all about playing the odds, not necessarily being absolute about statements like best of the best.

jlarocco 8y ago
There aren't many "world changing" organizations coming out of SV lately, and I'm not sure that claim holds in any case: http://fortune.com/fortune500/visualizations/ http://fortune.com/fortune500/visualizations/ Even narrowing down to "tech" companies, there are enough outliers that I don't buy it. Change it to "SV has the best developers searching for VC funding," and I believe it, but I'd still question the cause and effect of the situation...
- scottlocklin 8y ago
  Hard agree. IMO the best tech talent in the US is in finance, telecom and oil, none of which are Valley based. Most of what comes out of the Valley these days is mountebanks with software written by overambitious undereducated kids. Older companies like Google, Oracle and so on still contain pockets of tech excellence, but you can't buy those guys with your startup idea.

Nasrudith 8y ago

I did put it in quotes to point out that it was considered an opinion. The real point was that they were doing routine work and paying like they are doing something new while working on a rehash. There is some evidence that they are in fact above average given repeated failures to outsource to lower cost locales. From many corporations who tend to be ruthless about cutting costs even at the risk of long term problems that stands out as /something/. There are also incompetents everywhere as demonstrated by some major and avoidable blunders. They may in fact be overpriced and there are people with said capabilities elsewhere. Mobility isn't perfect, one would expect there to be a talent concentration there based upon wages - even if they don't stick around the feather in their cap helps with future job seeking and wages. I am also aware not all sufficent talent is capable or wishes to of head there. However prejudicing in talent pools does no favors eithe. To take an absurd example recruiting for people who are Olympic body builder and Java developers when you really just need Java developers would pass up vast pools of talent and raise expenses for essentially no reason. That is an extreme case of pointless overspecification.