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False. People were getting rich in Silicon Valley for decades. I'm not sure which "boom era" you're talking about but it's been attracting talent and money sinc

False. People were getting rich in Silicon Valley for decades. I'm not sure which "boom era" you're talking about but it's been attracting talent and money since the 80s.

marssaxman 3y ago
Yes indeed it has; but you said "fabulously rich", which is a more recent phenomenon.
- foobiekr 3y ago
  Fabulously, not as many. HP, Intel, Sun, SGI, Microsoft, Cisco, ... I mean all of these did leave people fabulously rich. So I'm not sure what you're talking about unless you mean the ZIRP IPOs of scam companies we've seen in the last fifteen years. If anything, from 1970 to late 1997 you did have a few differences - the fraction of scams dumped at inflated valuations on the public markets was a lot lower, and the number of huge company exits was lower - but that's actually more about how the industry was healthier (less bullshit) and smaller (it hadn't grown yet).
- adastra22 3y ago
  "Fabulously rich" is relative to your own biases. To be able to retire early in your 30's or 40's due to some luck in the startup lottery, even if its "just" a few million dollars, is "fabulously rich" by European standards.
  - marssaxman 3y ago
    That is "fabulously rich" by my standards too. My point is that the existence of the "startup lottery" is relatively recent in Silicon Valley history, and therefore cannot explain why Silicon Valley has the advantage it does.
    - adastra22 3y ago
      It's been a thing since at least the 70's, maybe the 60's (I know less about that era), at least if you adjust for cost of living and inflation. In other words, longer than Silicon Valley has actually been a thing (it used to be Santa Clara Valley!) My dad did the startup thing in the 80's, and still has his old stock certificates representing a non-trivial ownership share. It didn't work out for him, but I tried 3 decades later with some measure of success. So this is at least two literal generations of Silicon Valley economic mobility here.
- purpleblue 3y ago
  You're completely wrong and I don't think you live in Silicon Valley. If you do, you must have only been here for a short period of time. I've been in Silicon Valley for 30+ years and the first company I worked for, the admin assistant got so rich from her IPO shares that she quit and bought a winery in Napa. Please don't comment on things you don't know about.
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  - marssaxman 3y ago
    Have a nice day.
foobiekr 3y ago
70s.
dkasper 3y ago
Really the original “silicon” boom was in the 60s with fairchild et al. 60+ years of this
- purpleblue 3y ago
  I didn't live here during the 60s or 70s so I didn't want to talk about that time period, but I know for a fact a ton of people got very rich during the 80s and afterwards.

False. People were getting rich in Silicon Valley for decades. I'm not sure which "boom era" you're talking about but it's been attracting talent and money since the 80s.

marssaxman 3y ago

Yes indeed it has; but you said "fabulously rich", which is a more recent phenomenon.

foobiekr 3y ago
Fabulously, not as many. HP, Intel, Sun, SGI, Microsoft, Cisco, ... I mean all of these did leave people fabulously rich. So I'm not sure what you're talking about unless you mean the ZIRP IPOs of scam companies we've seen in the last fifteen years. If anything, from 1970 to late 1997 you did have a few differences - the fraction of scams dumped at inflated valuations on the public markets was a lot lower, and the number of huge company exits was lower - but that's actually more about how the industry was healthier (less bullshit) and smaller (it hadn't grown yet).
adastra22 3y ago
"Fabulously rich" is relative to your own biases. To be able to retire early in your 30's or 40's due to some luck in the startup lottery, even if its "just" a few million dollars, is "fabulously rich" by European standards.
- marssaxman 3y ago
  That is "fabulously rich" by my standards too. My point is that the existence of the "startup lottery" is relatively recent in Silicon Valley history, and therefore cannot explain why Silicon Valley has the advantage it does.
  - adastra22 3y ago
    It's been a thing since at least the 70's, maybe the 60's (I know less about that era), at least if you adjust for cost of living and inflation. In other words, longer than Silicon Valley has actually been a thing (it used to be Santa Clara Valley!) My dad did the startup thing in the 80's, and still has his old stock certificates representing a non-trivial ownership share. It didn't work out for him, but I tried 3 decades later with some measure of success. So this is at least two literal generations of Silicon Valley economic mobility here.
purpleblue 3y ago
You're completely wrong and I don't think you live in Silicon Valley. If you do, you must have only been here for a short period of time. I've been in Silicon Valley for 30+ years and the first company I worked for, the admin assistant got so rich from her IPO shares that she quit and bought a winery in Napa. Please don't comment on things you don't know about.
- deleted 3y ago
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- deleted 3y ago
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- marssaxman 3y ago
  Have a nice day.

foobiekr 3y ago

70s.

dkasper 3y ago

Really the original “silicon” boom was in the 60s with fairchild et al. 60+ years of this

purpleblue 3y ago
I didn't live here during the 60s or 70s so I didn't want to talk about that time period, but I know for a fact a ton of people got very rich during the 80s and afterwards.