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Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#21

Post by tyre »

The best part of Silicon Valley is brilliant people solving hard problems. In the beginning, there were a lot of talented, bright you people with not a lot of business sense. And it showed in their draw towards 'sexy' problems. But, as that space got incredibly crowded and, to a large degree, 'solved', people moved on.

I am a 20-something and was drawn to Silicon Valley to work on payroll specifically because I saw it as a sign that SV was 'growing up.' Not every company is working on social-local-mobile-freemium-gaming, and that is incredibly refreshing.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#22

Post by speeder »

My startup was made to solve problems of older people that has children...

But maybe, like the article theorises in the start, because the person that had the idea was in that group himself (my associate, and CEO of the company, had the idea to make apps for children after not finding enough apps for his own children and hearing comments from his similarly-aged friends about the same subject).

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#23

Post by te_chris »

destraynor wrote: post #14

That'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". Ev…

Path makes money?

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#24

Post by nairteashop »

seanlinehan wrote: post #17
ritchiea wrote: post #5

The 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_law_of_headlines

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#25

Post by samfisher83 »

I think software tends to favor the young. In general the biggest companies in tech were founded by younger people.

Google - Founded by 20 somethings Apple - Founded by 20 something Facebook - Founder by 20 something Amazon - Founded by 20 something

So they solve problems for a younger generation.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#27

Post by mhurron »

samfisher83 wrote: post #25

I think software tends to favor the young. In general the biggest companies in tech were founded by younger people. Google - Founded by 20 somethings Apple - Founded by 20 something Facebook - Founder by 20 something Amazon - Founded by 20 something So they solve problems for a younger generation.

The problem with this is they are not run by 20-somethings now. If they were working on 20-something problems because they were 20-somethings, why haven't they moved on?

Also, I wouldn't categorize Amazon as solving problems for a younger generation.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#28

Post by mhurron »

destraynor wrote: post #14

That'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". Ev…

> Who decided that Silicon Valley had to be held over hot coals for building software companies that solve problems and make money.

It would appear that Silicon Valley did. Every mundane piece of software is going to 'change the world.' People are just waiting for that to happen.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#29

Post by plainOldText »

samfisher83 wrote: post #25

I think software tends to favor the young. In general the biggest companies in tech were founded by younger people. Google - Founded by 20 somethings Apple - Founded by 20 something Facebook - Founder by 20 something Amazon - Founded by 20 something So they solve problems for a younger generation.

For the record, Jeff Bezos was 30 when he founded Amazon.
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