6 ms·

Covid-19 has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation

37 points by gilad 6y ago

giardini 6y ago
There is no "myth of Silicon Valley innovation": SV is only a tiny fraction of innovation in the USA and a very specialized fraction at that.
rvz 6y ago
The 2020 soothsayers [0] could not have been more wrong. This pandemic has questioned the sustainability of many startups that provide no value to society and have resorted to purely being driven by buzzwords and hype to get investors to continuously throw money at them. The red flag was signalled after the poor tech IPO performances of 2019 and right now, the same companies have taken a critical hit from this pandemic. Maybe when this is all over, we should really go back to looking at companies that are 'financially sustainable' rather than investing in frivolous tech companies that compete in burning up their capital on cloud services owned by some FAAMNG companies. Henceforth, the magnificent FAANMG will sail through this storm unscathed. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21934955 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21934955
- PopeDotNinja 6y ago
  What is an example of something that provides no value?
  - rvz 6y ago
    You can take most of the companies mentioned in this article which most of them are in SoftBank's Vision Fund: [0] My favourites are 'Brandless' [1] and 'Wag' [0] https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/13/softbank-expects-24-billion-in-losses-from-vision-fund-wework-and-oneweb-investments/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/13/softbank-expects-24-billio... [1] https://brandless.com/ https://brandless.com/
    - tomlagier 6y ago
      Wag may be overvalued, but it definitely provides nonzero value. Anecdata: we use it (and Rover) almost weekly to find someone to sit or walk our dog when we can't get home in a timely manner due to work or social events. We've kept the contacts of several sitters but it's so much easier to use a platform for scheduling rather than playing are-you-free with 3 or 4 people that we'll pay the markup. Having access to those services is a huge QoL improvement. It also enables a pretty easy additional income stream for people in a position to do the gigs. From what I've seen, it's straightforward to support yourself and even make a good middle-income wage just because dogs are a little simpler to parallelize than, say, taxi rides or food deliveries.
      - ac29 6y ago
        Sure, but what you're describing is service for people rich enough to try and have it all (aka paying a lot of money to not have to give up weekly social occasions to take care of their pets) but not wealthy enough to have full time help. The vast, vast majority of the world doesnt have that kind of luxury, which is why most people aren't too terribly sad to see these businesses fail.
        perl4ever 6y ago
        "The vast, vast majority of the world doesnt have that kind of luxury" This is a perverse way of framing the difference between developed countries and the rest of the world. It's a privilege to not be able to afford servants, as they would in many non-Western countries with greater inequality?
      - masonic 6y ago
        it's so much easier to use a platform for scheduling And who cares how much of a cut Rover/Wag takes from the service provider, as they are all interchangeable and easily disposable, right?
- pascalxus 6y ago
  The article seems misleading: they keep insisting that the only innovation we have is software because that's how we want it. As if, investors and entrepreneurs only have interest in producing software. As if, we don't see the enormous potential for innovation in other industries which much bigger problems (education, housing, transportation and medical). As if, no one wants to do anything about it. I've mentioned this before. Just look at what happens when a company wants to do even the slightest bit of innovation: and put a few buses on the road in the bay area. they're not asking for much, just a few buses. And they were shut down immediately, denying society the benefits of lower traffic and less pollution. With that kind of government/voter attitude, you can't go blaming innovators for just producing yet another lame software app. How many permits would be required to create a factory that produces millions of masks? And, what about housing and transportation: these are industries that are absolutely unassailable. in it's current state of regulation, a potential entrepreneur or company, couldn't even begin to imagine any innovation. The solution is for government to start talking to industry, and businesses to find out which regulations are preventing innovation and progress. You first need to make innovation possible before it can happen. Until then, it's just going to be yet another software app.
- xwowsersx 6y ago
  What's the M in FAANMG?
  - phendrenad2 6y ago
    Probably Microsoft
jseliger 6y ago
Part of a counterpoint: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/the-decline-of-the-innovation-state-is-killing-us.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/th...
askafriend 6y ago
Meh the writer isn't gonna get this narrative to stick. Most people's practical experiences right now are that many technologies developed in SV are making it possible for them to survive quarantine. From video chat and other communications, to social media, to delivery platforms, to all sorts of systems that companies are quickly adopting to adapt to the new operating environment around them. I'm all for the critical self-reflection of tech and journalists being hard on leaders. But this in particular is reaching for a story.
Nasrudith 6y ago
That article is utter trash of a smear piece - it isn't worthy of any word mincing. In contrast to normal advice I would say don't read it - it isn't worth your time. His demands are like grabbing a Med School Dean by the shoulders and shaking them while asking why they don't have a vaccine ready. That isn't their job and is literally demanding the impossible. It betrays a deep ignorance or attempted manipulation of expected ignorance among the audience that Silicon Valley are literal wizards. There are legitimate questions about shifting in industry and what lasting role start ups could play in a post Covid world but this is not that article. There is nothing reasonable to discuss.

37 points by gilad 6y ago

There is no "myth of Silicon Valley innovation": SV is only a tiny fraction of innovation in the USA and a very specialized fraction at that.

rvz 6y ago

The 2020 soothsayers [0] could not have been more wrong. This pandemic has questioned the sustainability of many startups that provide no value to society and have resorted to purely being driven by buzzwords and hype to get investors to continuously throw money at them. The red flag was signalled after the poor tech IPO performances of 2019 and right now, the same companies have taken a critical hit from this pandemic. Maybe when this is all over, we should really go back to looking at companies that are 'financially sustainable' rather than investing in frivolous tech companies that compete in burning up their capital on cloud services owned by some FAAMNG companies. Henceforth, the magnificent FAANMG will sail through this storm unscathed. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21934955 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21934955

PopeDotNinja 6y ago
What is an example of something that provides no value?
- rvz 6y ago
  You can take most of the companies mentioned in this article which most of them are in SoftBank's Vision Fund: [0] My favourites are 'Brandless' [1] and 'Wag' [0] https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/13/softbank-expects-24-billion-in-losses-from-vision-fund-wework-and-oneweb-investments/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/13/softbank-expects-24-billio... [1] https://brandless.com/ https://brandless.com/
  - tomlagier 6y ago
    Wag may be overvalued, but it definitely provides nonzero value. Anecdata: we use it (and Rover) almost weekly to find someone to sit or walk our dog when we can't get home in a timely manner due to work or social events. We've kept the contacts of several sitters but it's so much easier to use a platform for scheduling rather than playing are-you-free with 3 or 4 people that we'll pay the markup. Having access to those services is a huge QoL improvement. It also enables a pretty easy additional income stream for people in a position to do the gigs. From what I've seen, it's straightforward to support yourself and even make a good middle-income wage just because dogs are a little simpler to parallelize than, say, taxi rides or food deliveries.
    - ac29 6y ago
      Sure, but what you're describing is service for people rich enough to try and have it all (aka paying a lot of money to not have to give up weekly social occasions to take care of their pets) but not wealthy enough to have full time help. The vast, vast majority of the world doesnt have that kind of luxury, which is why most people aren't too terribly sad to see these businesses fail.
      - perl4ever 6y ago
        "The vast, vast majority of the world doesnt have that kind of luxury" This is a perverse way of framing the difference between developed countries and the rest of the world. It's a privilege to not be able to afford servants, as they would in many non-Western countries with greater inequality?
    - masonic 6y ago
      it's so much easier to use a platform for scheduling And who cares how much of a cut Rover/Wag takes from the service provider, as they are all interchangeable and easily disposable, right?
pascalxus 6y ago
The article seems misleading: they keep insisting that the only innovation we have is software because that's how we want it. As if, investors and entrepreneurs only have interest in producing software. As if, we don't see the enormous potential for innovation in other industries which much bigger problems (education, housing, transportation and medical). As if, no one wants to do anything about it. I've mentioned this before. Just look at what happens when a company wants to do even the slightest bit of innovation: and put a few buses on the road in the bay area. they're not asking for much, just a few buses. And they were shut down immediately, denying society the benefits of lower traffic and less pollution. With that kind of government/voter attitude, you can't go blaming innovators for just producing yet another lame software app. How many permits would be required to create a factory that produces millions of masks? And, what about housing and transportation: these are industries that are absolutely unassailable. in it's current state of regulation, a potential entrepreneur or company, couldn't even begin to imagine any innovation. The solution is for government to start talking to industry, and businesses to find out which regulations are preventing innovation and progress. You first need to make innovation possible before it can happen. Until then, it's just going to be yet another software app.
xwowsersx 6y ago
What's the M in FAANMG?
- phendrenad2 6y ago
  Probably Microsoft

jseliger 6y ago

Part of a counterpoint: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/the-decline-of-the-innovation-state-is-killing-us.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/th...

askafriend 6y ago

Meh the writer isn't gonna get this narrative to stick. Most people's practical experiences right now are that many technologies developed in SV are making it possible for them to survive quarantine. From video chat and other communications, to social media, to delivery platforms, to all sorts of systems that companies are quickly adopting to adapt to the new operating environment around them. I'm all for the critical self-reflection of tech and journalists being hard on leaders. But this in particular is reaching for a story.

Nasrudith 6y ago

That article is utter trash of a smear piece - it isn't worthy of any word mincing. In contrast to normal advice I would say don't read it - it isn't worth your time. His demands are like grabbing a Med School Dean by the shoulders and shaking them while asking why they don't have a vaccine ready. That isn't their job and is literally demanding the impossible. It betrays a deep ignorance or attempted manipulation of expected ignorance among the audience that Silicon Valley are literal wizards. There are legitimate questions about shifting in industry and what lasting role start ups could play in a post Covid world but this is not that article. There is nothing reasonable to discuss.