4 ms·

Michael Arrington: Silicon Valley Could Use A Downturn Right Now

22 points by reitzensteinm 19y ago

rms 19y ago
Poor Michael Arrington... his life is just so hard right now.
- brlewis 19y ago
  There's some truth to that. Money can't buy you good interactions with people.
staunch 19y ago
His position makes him an ant under a magnified glass, not surprising that he's getting burned out. But this has less to do with The Silicon Valley than with Mike himself. The increase in startup activity is also making him filthy rich, so I have trouble mustering much sympathy. His post was pretty thoughtless. I was going to eat fish tonight, but thanks to him I'm having a big juicy burger. I'm gaining weight because he's depressed!
- zemaj 19y ago
  "I was going to eat fish tonight, but thanks to him I'm having a big juicy burger. I'm gaining weight because he's depressed!" Best. Comment. Evar. :)
russ 19y ago
I agree that it's getting a little "bubbly" around here.
- sethjohn 19y ago
  I'm no expert on this, but isn't the conventional wisdom that this time around the economic factors are much more solid. There is a much more revenue being generated, simply because by now people are making a lot of $$ of purchases on the internet. Just because people are selling companies and there's a lot of money floating around doesn't mean it's neccessarily a bubble...maybe it's just good business.
  - omouse 19y ago
    It's the hype that makes everything seem bubbly. It's quite annoying for a lot of people which is why http://www.uncov.com/ http://www.uncov.com/ and many other rants about it exist: to take the hype down a peg or two.
    - far33d 19y ago
      No. Uncov exists because the easiest way to get eyeballs without any real insight is to ride someone else's wave. Ranting is easy.
vlad 19y ago
Unfortunately, the only true, actionable message one can get from this post is that crying to him on the phone works every time, and I don't think that's the message he wanted to send!
wschroter 19y ago
I'm having a really hard time figuring out why any of what Mike said is a bad thing.
danielha 19y ago
There's some extensive hype here. If you find yourself floating around in the same circles, that hype is being spread and regurgitated to you time and time again. You'd be living in your own personal bubble, shielded from the realities of non-SV people. A lot of this hype gets people excited and allows new things to happen; and those with their head on their shoulders will be able to see past hype and see a successful outcome for themselves.
- jamiequint 19y ago
  Peter Drucker echoes this sentiment in "The Effective Executive" when he says that one of the realities the executive must learn to deal with is the fact that he is "within the organization" (In this case Silicon Valley). I totally agree.
far33d 19y ago
Sure, there's a lot of hype and excitement out there. But to call it a bubble is somewhat misleading. The biggest deals happening right now wouldn't even warrant a sidebar mention in the web 1.0 boom. Niche retail sites were getting $60m rounds, regularly. Companies with huge losses were going public with valuations over $1B. Now Arrington is calling it a bubble because companies are getting $7m first rounds? Sure, there's a lot of hype and a lot of these companies will go nowhere, but from hype and exuberance grows innovation.
tx 19y ago
Don't you all think that we are seeing (softly speaking) too many companies whith 100% ad-sponsored business plans? Let's not forget that advertizement market consists of (surprise!) dollars that someone (users, maybe?) need to spend on something real. And there is only finite percentage of $$$ that Canon (for instance) is willing to share with you for each digital camera sold. Unless someone shows me digits from reputable source that suggest an unbelievable growth of advertizement market...
- aston 19y ago
  "Unless someone shows me digits from reputable source that suggest an unbelievable growth of advertizement market..." (sic) Have you been watching Google's quarterly earnings?
- lupin_sansei 19y ago
  And there is only finite percentage of $$$ that Canon (for instance) is willing to share with you for each digital camera sold. Yes but there's not a finite amount of products to sell, producers of products, and products.
sabat 19y ago
Dear Mr. Michael Arrington, You were successful only because you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Try to have some empathy for those of us who can't pay cash for a house in Woodside (~$3 million). In other words, BITE ME.
- sabat 19y ago
  To whoever just down-voted me for my comment: it was worth it just to tell Arrington to bite me.

22 points by reitzensteinm 19y ago

rms 19y ago

Poor Michael Arrington... his life is just so hard right now.

brlewis 19y ago
There's some truth to that. Money can't buy you good interactions with people.

staunch 19y ago

His position makes him an ant under a magnified glass, not surprising that he's getting burned out. But this has less to do with The Silicon Valley than with Mike himself. The increase in startup activity is also making him filthy rich, so I have trouble mustering much sympathy. His post was pretty thoughtless. I was going to eat fish tonight, but thanks to him I'm having a big juicy burger. I'm gaining weight because he's depressed!

zemaj 19y ago
"I was going to eat fish tonight, but thanks to him I'm having a big juicy burger. I'm gaining weight because he's depressed!" Best. Comment. Evar. :)

russ 19y ago

I agree that it's getting a little "bubbly" around here.

sethjohn 19y ago
I'm no expert on this, but isn't the conventional wisdom that this time around the economic factors are much more solid. There is a much more revenue being generated, simply because by now people are making a lot of $$ of purchases on the internet. Just because people are selling companies and there's a lot of money floating around doesn't mean it's neccessarily a bubble...maybe it's just good business.
- omouse 19y ago
  It's the hype that makes everything seem bubbly. It's quite annoying for a lot of people which is why http://www.uncov.com/ http://www.uncov.com/ and many other rants about it exist: to take the hype down a peg or two.
  - far33d 19y ago
    No. Uncov exists because the easiest way to get eyeballs without any real insight is to ride someone else's wave. Ranting is easy.

vlad 19y ago

Unfortunately, the only true, actionable message one can get from this post is that crying to him on the phone works every time, and I don't think that's the message he wanted to send!

wschroter 19y ago

I'm having a really hard time figuring out why any of what Mike said is a bad thing.

danielha 19y ago

There's some extensive hype here. If you find yourself floating around in the same circles, that hype is being spread and regurgitated to you time and time again. You'd be living in your own personal bubble, shielded from the realities of non-SV people. A lot of this hype gets people excited and allows new things to happen; and those with their head on their shoulders will be able to see past hype and see a successful outcome for themselves.

jamiequint 19y ago
Peter Drucker echoes this sentiment in "The Effective Executive" when he says that one of the realities the executive must learn to deal with is the fact that he is "within the organization" (In this case Silicon Valley). I totally agree.

far33d 19y ago

Sure, there's a lot of hype and excitement out there. But to call it a bubble is somewhat misleading. The biggest deals happening right now wouldn't even warrant a sidebar mention in the web 1.0 boom. Niche retail sites were getting $60m rounds, regularly. Companies with huge losses were going public with valuations over $1B. Now Arrington is calling it a bubble because companies are getting $7m first rounds? Sure, there's a lot of hype and a lot of these companies will go nowhere, but from hype and exuberance grows innovation.

tx 19y ago

Don't you all think that we are seeing (softly speaking) too many companies whith 100% ad-sponsored business plans? Let's not forget that advertizement market consists of (surprise!) dollars that someone (users, maybe?) need to spend on something real. And there is only finite percentage of $$$ that Canon (for instance) is willing to share with you for each digital camera sold. Unless someone shows me digits from reputable source that suggest an unbelievable growth of advertizement market...

aston 19y ago
"Unless someone shows me digits from reputable source that suggest an unbelievable growth of advertizement market..." (sic) Have you been watching Google's quarterly earnings?
lupin_sansei 19y ago
And there is only finite percentage of $$$ that Canon (for instance) is willing to share with you for each digital camera sold. Yes but there's not a finite amount of products to sell, producers of products, and products.

sabat 19y ago

Dear Mr. Michael Arrington, You were successful only because you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Try to have some empathy for those of us who can't pay cash for a house in Woodside (~$3 million). In other words, BITE ME.

sabat 19y ago
To whoever just down-voted me for my comment: it was worth it just to tell Arrington to bite me.