Well, it's probably harder to meaningfully shift the way older consumers live in general. Between regulations and routine, business has an increasingly difficult time selling to us as we age. For all the dollars in pharma, grandma still won't take her pills and grandpa won't get rid of that old beater. Etc.
Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
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Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know about "only". Sometimes it's good to have a narrow focus on CS topics if you are going to implementing difficult low level stuff that only other techies will touch directly. It's also possible to get knowledge of other fields from places outside of academia. Most UK universities do offer CS as a joint degree with other subjects, though in many cases they are limited to mainly other STEM subjects. I don't…
My university offered a undergrad CS major with a business minor that was pretty popular.
True, in fact many universities offer a dedicated "business computing" degree which seems to be a CS degree with a lot of the theory stripped out and some business modules added.
Though these courses often have a stigma amongst people who consider themselves "techies".
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#13I think that the assumption of the New Yorker that Airbnb is only for twentysomethings is not correct (I can't speak about Uber).
I'm 33 years old and living in Europe. Between my passions there is dancing tango. This actually involves a lot of traveling to international festivals where to meet and dance different people. There are many of these events and many dancers are really dedicated, traveling around a lot, sometimes almost every weekend. In this situation it gets really helpful to travel on a budget, even if there are not many people in their 20s in the community. As a result Airbnb is getting the de facto choice for the community of the 30-40 years old international traveling dancers.
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#14That's not true, every time a founder becomes a parent they build shitty solutions to all those problems too :)
But seriously this whole angle frustrates me.
Who decided that Silicon Valley had to be held over hot coals for building software companies that solve problems and make money. Why does it always read like "they alone inherited the problems of the universe, and are choosing to build dickpic apps instead".
Everywhere in the world there are smart people working on dumb things. In SV there's lots more smart people, but the percentage doesn't change. Also some things look dumb but are actually genius in hindsight, so it's easy to criticise these as problems for twentysomethings today, but fast forward a decade and they're 'problems for the masses'
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#15good point. most of the startups are working on trivial problems faced by 20somethings.
Startups tend to try to solve problems they are familiar with. So 20something founders, are likely working on something 20somethings face.
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#16Most new companies fail, but not all. Apple and Google were founded by twenty-somethings, and in the early days, nobody was certain what they would become. The key is to keep trying stuff, even ideas that might seem unusual.
One group that displays much 'irritating self-regard' are east-coast pundits who write on subjects they don't understand.
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#17The title is deceptive because shortly after asking that question in the article, the author comes to a resounding "no" and goes on to talk about why it is our impression that SV only works on the problems of 20-somethings. The core of the author's comment comes at the end: "Imagine how odd it would be to read an article saying that the people who work for manufacturing firms are really just out to make money, or tha…
Here is a strategy that I have heard repeated a few times: When you see a rhetorical question in the title of a news article, the answer is no. The answer is always no. The article may say maybe. But the answer is no. Just like that you've saved yourself a few minutes.
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#18Well, it's probably harder to meaningfully shift the way older consumers live in general. Between regulations and routine, business has an increasingly difficult time selling to us as we age. For all the dollars in pharma, grandma still won't take her pills and grandpa won't get rid of that old beater. Etc.
There's an article on HN right now about setting up a MacBook for grandma. And everyone talks about how great an iPad has been for the elderly.
I don't think they're stubborn, they're just different. I also don't think they're cheap either, because an iPad (let alone a MacBook) is still a consumer electronic luxury.
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#19Betteridge's Law of Headlines applies.
Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?
#20What is more frustrating to me is that so much of the startup focus is in Silicon Valley and ascertaining viability for these disruptive service is wholly dependent on the SV set's adoption rate.
Some of these businesses should spend more time planning the logistical and strategic side of rolling out satellites to other markets (maybe even as a franchise model) to see if uptake rates change based on cost off living, regional preference, different geographical factors, etc.
What plays in tech saavy SV, the NW, New York, and Austin might be different than in Tampa, Pittsburgh, St. Paul, and Phoenix.
Does anyone agree?