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>I watched Social Network for the second time today, and it got me thinking. Entrepreneurs are no different than struggling actors. Didn't we already collectiv

>I watched Social Network for the second time today, and it got me thinking. Entrepreneurs are no different than struggling actors. Didn't we already collectively agree that the events depicted in the Social Network were more Hollywood than Silicon Valley? Not that I totally disagree with the comparison, I've made it myself as recently as yesterday, but it's not exactly a bad thing. There was a time when Hollywood was making a lot of good films. But those films brought in money, and money brought in vanity and all that other nastiness. There's certainly plenty of money bouncing around SV, but the fame is a bit more self-contained. If you move to the valley and send a letter home to your mom about how you bumped into Fred Wilson in a coffee shop, she would probably not run off to tell all her friends about it. If the worst thing you can say about the valley is that everybody there wants to build something great and is willing to risk a lot to make an effort at it, that sounds like a fantastic environment.

alexophile 16y ago
Update: I asked some people in my office if they've heard of Mark Zuckerberg - 100% had and could identify him as 'the facebook guy.' Same question with Sergey Brin and Larry Page - crickets.
muhfuhkuh 16y ago
"If you move to the valley and send a letter home to your mom about how you bumped into Fred Wilson in a coffee shop, she would probably not run off to tell all her friends about it." Yeah, but Fred Wilson is the Silicon Valley equivalent of a Harvey Weinstein. And, while I'm sure some people know who the Weinsteins are, they're not as famous as, say, Tom Hanks. Ask your random sample who Steve Jobs is. Then, you'll get some traction. He would be the SV equivalent of Stephen Spielberg. Or, perhaps Bill Gates or Michael Dell, the respective George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis equivalents the tech world.
- alexophile 16y ago
  Tom Hanks is a talented actor that went on to produce/direct - I think a very fair comparison would be someone like Paul Buchheit. I'm not going to go around asking, but I think it's safe to assume my sample would have no idea who he is. That being said, the point I was trying to make is that you can become very successful in SV and have nobody outside of the tech community know your name - your product is your product. In Hollywood, your product is you, success is, by definition, corellated with fame.

alexophile 16y ago

Update: I asked some people in my office if they've heard of Mark Zuckerberg - 100% had and could identify him as 'the facebook guy.' Same question with Sergey Brin and Larry Page - crickets.

muhfuhkuh 16y ago

"If you move to the valley and send a letter home to your mom about how you bumped into Fred Wilson in a coffee shop, she would probably not run off to tell all her friends about it." Yeah, but Fred Wilson is the Silicon Valley equivalent of a Harvey Weinstein. And, while I'm sure some people know who the Weinsteins are, they're not as famous as, say, Tom Hanks. Ask your random sample who Steve Jobs is. Then, you'll get some traction. He would be the SV equivalent of Stephen Spielberg. Or, perhaps Bill Gates or Michael Dell, the respective George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis equivalents the tech world.

alexophile 16y ago
Tom Hanks is a talented actor that went on to produce/direct - I think a very fair comparison would be someone like Paul Buchheit. I'm not going to go around asking, but I think it's safe to assume my sample would have no idea who he is. That being said, the point I was trying to make is that you can become very successful in SV and have nobody outside of the tech community know your name - your product is your product. In Hollywood, your product is you, success is, by definition, corellated with fame.