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Om Malik has died

om.co

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Re: Om Malik has died

#141

Post by mikeyouse »

sokoloff wrote: post #86
mikeyouse wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a really tremendous streak of people helping people with no strings attached that I hadn’t found anywhere else I’ve lived. Especially but not exclusively on the engineering / product side - for a long time you could take a greyhound to Soma and have a couch to crash on and a job interview lined up without knowing anyone. Introductions are made without a second thought (extremely contrary to my east coast exp…

As a life-long east coaster, I am reluctant/unwilling to make an introduction of someone I don’t know at all. It’s not that I have to get something of worth to make an intro, but I think my intro carries an implied vouch (at least a tiny one) and I can’t do that if I don’t know you. If I know you and can actually vouch for you, I’ll happily make any intro where I stand to gain nothing. I somewhat frequently get a col…

Yep - a very common view/philosophy outside the Valley. For whatever reason, that's not the culture at all in SV. Actually "vouching" for someone is still gated by people's reputation, but introductions are understood to be less of a personal 'I think this person is worth hiring' and more of a 'You are both working on something interesting in a similar area, I think you should talk' or commonly, 'This person has some very weird but interesting ideas about something I know you're interested in'.

Random example but I was working with an algae biofuel company during the cleantech boom and we were having analysis problems as the equipment we were using kept fouling due to the harsh desert conditions where our ponds were. I was at a birthday party and obliquely mentioned that issue to a friend who had asked how it was all going and before I knew it, he'd called his former coworker who'd founded a company that successfully launched similar equipment to Mars which was obviously not user-serviceable so was built to be extremely robust. There was no 'ask' from anyone involved and nobody got richer from the exchange, but it was just a random occasion to connect people who might find each other interesting that was completely common in my SV experience.

Re: Om Malik has died

#142

Post by roundhill »

This is so sad to see. I consider myself lucky to have worked with Om for a few days as he was advising the company I was working for during a big growth stage. I'll always remember his kindness and wisdom.

Re: Om Malik has died

#143

Post by lotsofpulp »

mikeyouse wrote: post #141
sokoloff wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a life-long east coaster, I am reluctant/unwilling to make an introduction of someone I don’t know at all. It’s not that I have to get something of worth to make an intro, but I think my intro carries an implied vouch (at least a tiny one) and I can’t do that if I don’t know you. If I know you and can actually vouch for you, I’ll happily make any intro where I stand to gain nothing. I somewhat frequently get a col…

Yep - a very common view/philosophy outside the Valley. For whatever reason, that's not the culture at all in SV. Actually "vouching" for someone is still gated by people's reputation, but introductions are understood to be less of a personal 'I think this person is worth hiring' and more of a 'You are both working on something interesting in a similar area, I think you should talk' or commonly, 'This person has some…

I think the “Valley” is just sufficiently expensive and/or newly settled that the probability a person would be a net negative to introduce was low enough that there did not need to be as much gatekeeping as there is in the east.

If you were knowledgeable enough to move to the Valley, if you had the wealth and connections to move to the Valley, then you already passed some of the checks needed to be someone who would be a sufficiently good bet to introduce.

It might already be the case that the Valley has changed to be more similar to the East.

Re: Om Malik has died

#145

Post by gosuri »

One of the regrets I have is not following through when Om messaged to hang out a couple of months ago. A painful reminder to take some time off your busy lives to catch up with old friends. You never know if you’ll get another chance.

Re: Om Malik has died

#146

Post by riemannzeta »

profsummergig wrote: post #35
cobbzilla wrote: post #17

GigaOM was truly awesome at its best. Om was a special guy, I met him a few times during my years in the Bay Area. He really embodied that selflessly-helping side of the Valley: helping others with no expectations, just because it’s good. He helped one of my startups get some exposure. I keep trying to pay it forward. I will miss him.

"the selflessly-helping side of the Valley" Never having lived in the valley, I've struggled to understand what it means. Can anyone share some examples?

https://steveblank.com/2011/09/15/the-pay-it-forward-culture...

Re: Om Malik has died

#147

Post by [deleted] »

profsummergig wrote: post #35
cobbzilla wrote: post #17

GigaOM was truly awesome at its best. Om was a special guy, I met him a few times during my years in the Bay Area. He really embodied that selflessly-helping side of the Valley: helping others with no expectations, just because it’s good. He helped one of my startups get some exposure. I keep trying to pay it forward. I will miss him.

"the selflessly-helping side of the Valley" Never having lived in the valley, I've struggled to understand what it means. Can anyone share some examples?

[deleted]

Re: Om Malik has died

#148

Post by iwontberude »

jeffiel wrote: post #114

I’ll share my favorite Om story. It was 2010 and we were launching Twilio SMS. I went over to his office to pitch him the story, hoping we would cover the launch. He listened for 10 minutes while I walked through it, then said “Yeah yeah I’ll write about it. But I want to talk about your health. Are you taking care of yourself? You could lose some weight…” He wanted everybody to learn from his health journey. While m…

lmao welp

Re: Om Malik has died

#149

Post by tough »

gumby271 wrote: post #128
znpy wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hear that SF has one of the highest rates of homelessness... My understanding is that homelessness in California is a business similar to dating apps (tinder etc). If dating apps would actually find you a partner, they would all go out of business. So dating apps mainly keep you on the hook, fishing for subscriptions.

Who's benefiting from SF homelessness?

most probably all the bullshit government "agencies" run by people mostly interested on getting a salary.

If you erradicate homelessness all these jobs woudlnt exist.

Do you think your tax money really goes to get people out of the streets?

Re: Om Malik has died

#150

Post by tough »

goosejuice wrote: post #100
xp84 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even the richest person can simply cure thousands of people of addiction and set them on the right path in life. If you want to prove me wrong, surely even with non-millionaire resources, you could afford to just take in one into your home, feed them, and fix their problems. I’ll be genuinely glad to be proven wrong.

You don't need to cure everyone to improve the homelessness situation.

There's plenty of great examples of governments deciding to deal with drug abuse in a more humane way, resulting in much better outcomes, see Portugal or Switzerland etc
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