Written about this twice before — here and here — and I won’t belabor this point that much, because I’m not an active part of Silicon Valley and, with the way brains and biases work, no one really cares about criticism of their spot in the world unless it comes from someone they feel similarity with.
This is a decent article (mostly a series of book reviews) about founder myths, and near the end, this part is interesting:
The authors argue that while tech stars hog the spotlight, small-business entrepreneurs—especially Black, brown, female, and older founders—make up a significant portion of the U.S. economy and run companies that operate in and benefit their communities. And yet “our systems of finance and mentorship have failed to keep up,” so entrepreneurship and economic opportunity are declining.
Would agree with this. All the economic oxygen — and business journalism — goes to about 25 “unicorn” companies at a given time, and that makes it hard for someone hustling and striving in Topeka to get some more capital. Obviously capital is limited, and we should all get that, but banks and other hustlers buy into these “tech-only” narratives, and homophily happens at networking events and meetings, where everyone gradually gets on the same page that we all need more tech and apps and disruption, and if you can’t find your path to that, your opportunities kinda dry up into being a drone for someone else. And you can make a good life doing that, but the Silicon Valley narratives of geniuses and fun sock-wearing guys reinventing the world and TECH ABOVE ALL TECH IS OUR TRUE GOD, that stuff needs to really stop.
It’s OK to build a successful tile business in an office park near an airport. You’re still a success. You can still have trappings. You can still have a beautiful family. Not everyone needs to be Zuck. And, in reality, wouldn’t life be better if less people were trying to be Zuck?
Ted, “ Not everyone needs to be Zuck. And, in reality, wouldn’t life be better if less people were trying to be Zuck?”. I would go so far as to say the world would be a kinder safer more secure place without FB, Twatter and other SM entities. While said entities may have allowed some more access it just appears the downsides of cancel and censor culture out way the upsides. As you’ve seen first hand cancel culture breeds an evil nature in people not seen for awhile. No one can have a dissenting opinion to the woke left and God forbid one might have said something in 1985 that goes against today’s so called standards. Some have said what the cancel and censor culture is doing mimics the Nazis and when they say that they are canceled themselves. In many ways the direction style and implementation means of the woke cancel culture does mimic the first actions not just of the Nazis but the Soviet’s and Maos street thugs in China.