Throw-away account for obvious reasons:
> "Silicon Valley works because there is such a high density of people working on start-ups and they are inclined to help each other"
Bull shit. With all due respect to Sam--who no doubt knows what he's doing and saying and has become very successful--he is undoubtedly living in a bubble of his own. While I've found people generally open to the idea of chatting over a coffee, I've run across very few people that go out of their way to help. In fact, I more often find people who will either offer to help, and don't, or are so self-absorbed that they can't stop talking about how great/impressive they or their startup is without bothering to ask about you or what you're doing. I've even asked for a meeting with and gotten the following response: "I'm very busy. Let me know how you think you can help me and I'll think about it."
I've been trying to tell myself that it's just my luck: That it's not socio-economic or pedigree based (race or school) or that some people here don't have basic people skills and don't know how to carry on a conversation. That maybe it's just the luck of the draw that I run into more people that I'd classify as "ass holes" than not, but I'm coming--very late--to a sad reality: it is about socio-economic status--even more than that, it is about pedigree (yes, both race and the school you went to). It is about manners--most people don't have them. AND, it's about gender as well! I'm not a woman, but I'm willing to bet that if I was a woman, things would be a shit ton harder for me than they already are. I'm not a 20-something white male that went to Stanford and it's impossible for me to imagine how hard things would be if I had a vagina [0].
These are things we don't want to talk about. Thank god a conversation about gender is taking place, but there's another conversation about elitism and race that hasn't even started yet.
> "One of the biggest misconceptions about us is that you need to have pre-existing connections to get value from the network."
Complete and utter bull. Maybe in Sam's world, sure! White? 20-something? No-kids? Harvard/Stanford? B2C? Let’s chat!
Early-40's/Late-30's? Not-white? Married w/ kids? Not-Harvard/Stanford? B2B? Nope. (Don't bother to apply to YC either).
The reason Silicon Valley works is because there's a new-boys network that helps out those that check most of the right boxes.
But here’s the good news: There are other networks. Networks of people in their 40’s. Networks of people that are from a specific ethnic group. Networks of people that went to the same (non-Harvard/Stanford) business school as you that are willing to help out. Are most of these networks as big and powerful as the circles Sam roles in? Absolutely not. But are they out there? Yes. One of the marvels of Silicon Valley is that because there are so many people out here, there’s a semi-decent chance you might find someone in one of these networks that will meet you for a coffee, offer to help, and try to make something happen for you. Is it likely? No, but possible, yes? And that—the possibility of something working out despite the odds—is what entrepreneurship is about.
[0] - What It's Like Raising Money As A Woman In Silicon Valley (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/08/07/what-it...)