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In my impression it really accelerated after the '08 financial crisis (+- a few years for all the people who left wall street and went to HBS) after being an ib
by atlasunshrugged 5y ago
In my impression it really accelerated after the '08 financial crisis (+- a few years for all the people who left wall street and went to HBS) after being an ibanker was no longer cool or well paid and the people who would have gone there decided to come to Silicon Valley. That's a huge mass of people who are grinders who just want to make money and quick and have a totally different mindset than the people who wanted to build cool shit that solved their own and others problems. In my mind these are the people who did GSB/HBS, Google PM, failed at a startup that raised a bunch of money from their friends and network, and then became a VC. Not that these folks were all bad, they probably did help professionalize the tech industry and focus it on solving big problems (unfortunately imo that was overindexed on potential returns rather than potential positive impact) and brought huge amounts of capital to bear on the industry. But yeah, I left SF after the millionth pitch I heard of people who were going to build a world changing product and it ended up being on-demand laundry service or 10 minute grocery pickup while being in a city surrounded by homeless tent camps and people in such mental anguish that they would be screaming in the streets in broad daylight.
- user_7832 5y agoSlightly off-topic (but related to your comment) - do you know of any company or organization that's truly for public welfare? Or, any VC that cares more about society than a super-high rate of return where such a society-focused company can be launched/funded?
- atlasunshrugged 5y agoI think lots of nonprofits have public welfare in their mission but I think by organization you mean for profit entities? In that case my answer is the same as to the one for VCs in that there are lots that care about society and specific sectors and have that as a thesis with returns being equal (or perhaps secondary for a select few); climate tech startups and investors for instance or companies making alternative proteins (although maybe that's "animal society" not human that they care about)
- rchaud 5y agoMackenzie Scott (formerly Bezos), although her approach is about as far removed from traditional VC as one could imagine.
- SAI_Peregrinus 5y agoMITRE maybe? They're a US government-supported non-profit R&D company.
- atlasunshrugged 5y agoKind of but they're really a government agency in essence, no? I mean that's like calling In-Q-Tel a nonproft, really it's just the CIA's venture arm in a nonprofit shell for legal/management reasons
- pelario 5y agoWikipedia, EFF, Gnu
- bogomipz 5y agoWhat are GSB and HBS here?
- QuantumYeti 5y agoI think it means Standford Graduate School of Business, and Harvard Business School.
- atlasunshrugged 5y agoSorry, yes, QuantumYeti is correct; specifically talking about MBA programs at Harvard and Stanford