4 ms·

- crushing conformity ? check. - love of me-too and sequels ? check. - living off the glory days of the past ? check. - patronage and network trump talent an

- crushing conformity ? check. - love of me-too and sequels ? check. - living off the glory days of the past ? check. - patronage and network trump talent and originality ? check. - overwhelming sense of self-importance ? check. - lack of common sense economics ? check. Maybe Silicon Valley is Hollywood for startups after all.

j_baker 16y ago
- Lots of creativity? Check. - A ton of talent available to those that know how to find it and care for it? Check. - A vibrant hacker community like nowhere else? Check. - A vibrant entrepreneurial community like nowhere else? Check. Seriously, did Silicon Valley step on your mother's grave or something? You sound like Oscar Wilde's definition of "cynic": someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
- zeemonkee 16y ago
  > Seriously, did Silicon Valley step on your mother's grave or something? You sound like Oscar Wilde's definition of "cynic": someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Not bad going, two ad-hominems and not a single rebuttal of my arguments. Oh, and my mother is alive and well, thank you.
  - j_baker 16y ago
    You're right, I'm not saying that these don't happen. I'm saying that you're focusing on all the things that are wrong with the valley and ignoring all the good things about it. That's no better than being one of the people who pick out all the good and ignore the bad. Silicon Valley is a good place to live and work. Is it overhyped? Sure. But that by itself doesn't make it a bad place.
edw519 16y ago
Nice post, zeemonkey. A few more for your list: - substance trumped by image ? check. - 99% of players only one level deep ? check. - disdain for any other industry ? check. - being notorious better than being unknown ? check. - "where" more important than "what" ? check. - lack of understanding of the real world ? check. - religious worship of youth ? check.
iamelgringo 16y ago
- crushing conformity ? check. Really? Conformity is the last thing I think of in this town. Have you been to San Francisco? - love of me-too and sequels ? check. Google, Facebook, sequels. LinkedIn, sequel. Check. Zynga, Netflix, Pandora, Yelp, YouTube, PayPal... not so much. Iteration and competition on business plan and product is good business. How many people are there making scads of money off of selling cereal? How many types of cars are there? How many banks? How many types of shoes? Are these "me too" businesses? Sure. But, the "me too" of Silicon Valley doesn't succeed unless the follow on company creates significant value over and above what the previous company did. (Google created a ton more value than Yahoo, AltaVista, Excite, Lycos, etc..) - living off the glory days of the past ? check. Really? I have 2,500 members at Hackers & Founders that are focused on being the next thing, and are quite bored with the "glory days" of Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc... There's tons of innovation happening. You just don't read about it all. - patronage and network trump talent and originality ? check. False. You don't make it in this town unless you can produce. No one cares where you went to school or who your daddy is. I have an Associates Degree in Nursing from a community college in the suburbs of Minneapolis, and I run the largest network of startup geeks in the Valley. - overwhelming sense of self-importance ? check. The market capitalization of all the companies within 1 mile of highway 101 between San Francisco and San Jose is $500 Billon. The San Francisco Bay area is one of the 20 largest economies in the world. So, yeah. It's kind of important. Self-important? Maybe. - lack of common sense economics ? check. Last I checked, Hollywood and Silicon Valley weren't hurting in the money making department. How is that a lack of common sense economics? Now, I will grant you that both economies operate on economies of scale. And, that many company's business models only work at massive scale. But, there's sufficient risk capital to support that in both towns. Maybe Silicon Valley is Hollywood for startups after all.

j_baker 16y ago

- Lots of creativity? Check. - A ton of talent available to those that know how to find it and care for it? Check. - A vibrant hacker community like nowhere else? Check. - A vibrant entrepreneurial community like nowhere else? Check. Seriously, did Silicon Valley step on your mother's grave or something? You sound like Oscar Wilde's definition of "cynic": someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

zeemonkee 16y ago
> Seriously, did Silicon Valley step on your mother's grave or something? You sound like Oscar Wilde's definition of "cynic": someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Not bad going, two ad-hominems and not a single rebuttal of my arguments. Oh, and my mother is alive and well, thank you.
- j_baker 16y ago
  You're right, I'm not saying that these don't happen. I'm saying that you're focusing on all the things that are wrong with the valley and ignoring all the good things about it. That's no better than being one of the people who pick out all the good and ignore the bad. Silicon Valley is a good place to live and work. Is it overhyped? Sure. But that by itself doesn't make it a bad place.

edw519 16y ago

Nice post, zeemonkey. A few more for your list: - substance trumped by image ? check. - 99% of players only one level deep ? check. - disdain for any other industry ? check. - being notorious better than being unknown ? check. - "where" more important than "what" ? check. - lack of understanding of the real world ? check. - religious worship of youth ? check.

iamelgringo 16y ago

- crushing conformity ? check. Really? Conformity is the last thing I think of in this town. Have you been to San Francisco? - love of me-too and sequels ? check. Google, Facebook, sequels. LinkedIn, sequel. Check. Zynga, Netflix, Pandora, Yelp, YouTube, PayPal... not so much. Iteration and competition on business plan and product is good business. How many people are there making scads of money off of selling cereal? How many types of cars are there? How many banks? How many types of shoes? Are these "me too" businesses? Sure. But, the "me too" of Silicon Valley doesn't succeed unless the follow on company creates significant value over and above what the previous company did. (Google created a ton more value than Yahoo, AltaVista, Excite, Lycos, etc..) - living off the glory days of the past ? check. Really? I have 2,500 members at Hackers & Founders that are focused on being the next thing, and are quite bored with the "glory days" of Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc... There's tons of innovation happening. You just don't read about it all. - patronage and network trump talent and originality ? check. False. You don't make it in this town unless you can produce. No one cares where you went to school or who your daddy is. I have an Associates Degree in Nursing from a community college in the suburbs of Minneapolis, and I run the largest network of startup geeks in the Valley. - overwhelming sense of self-importance ? check. The market capitalization of all the companies within 1 mile of highway 101 between San Francisco and San Jose is $500 Billon. The San Francisco Bay area is one of the 20 largest economies in the world. So, yeah. It's kind of important. Self-important? Maybe. - lack of common sense economics ? check. Last I checked, Hollywood and Silicon Valley weren't hurting in the money making department. How is that a lack of common sense economics? Now, I will grant you that both economies operate on economies of scale. And, that many company's business models only work at massive scale. But, there's sufficient risk capital to support that in both towns. Maybe Silicon Valley is Hollywood for startups after all.