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Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

wired.com

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Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#41

Post by untog »

FD3SA wrote: post #21

I agree with most of what this article is saying, but the existence of YC is a perfect counter-argument. Although I've disagreed with PG regarding his opinions on "Zuckerberg-likeness" being important in founders, I know that YC selects for merit above all else. How do I know this? Because PG has stated many times that he is excited about founders from the University of Waterloo in Canada, which used to be unknown on…

I'd disagree with that one data point proving too much. For a start, I don't think it contradicts the "Zuckerberg-ness" issue- graduates from Waterloo are also very likely to be hoodie-wearing white men, I don't think that being Canadian counts as particularly 'diverse'.

Sure, PG is open to graduates that aren't from Ivy League universities. That's one factor. There are a lot of others.

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#42

Post by acgourley »

MAGZine wrote: post #25
jnovek wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing the author is challenging here is not whether Silicon Valley is a meritocracy, but whether it is as much of a meritocracy as its participants believe. It doesn't matter much how it compares to other industries. In my (limited) experience, among successful founders and investors -- the "trend setters" of startup culture -- there is a widely held notion that anyone with a computer, a good brain, a decent idea…

I'd tend to believe that if you have a badass business deal that is truly worth 1B, you have know-how to get it off the ground, and have exceptional presentation skills (its all about the sell, at this point) a VC wouldn't say no because a person is black, female, gay, or all 3. VCs are their to make money, and they see white male harvard dropouts with no social life to be a safe bet. Convince them that you have a pl…

If you're a SV demographic outsider (say: black, gay, female) it's still going to be an order of magnitude harder to raise institutional money. You're not going to socialize in the same circles and thus your referral network will be tiny. If you get a meeting, you're going to need to spend the first 15 minute somehow counteracting the generalizations piling against you.

That said, starting with the same skills and money it shouldn't be any harder to bootstrap a tech business. If you're profitable and growing, raising money should also be pretty fair. Traction is the real meritocracy.

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#43

Post by icegreentea »

freefrancisco wrote: post #19

' Helene Ahl found that in business discourse 70 percent of words used to describe entrepreneurs were male-gendered — these included “self-reliant”, “assertive”, “forceful”, “risk-taking”, “self-sufficient”, “leader”, “competitive”, and “ambitious”.' I don't see anything male about any of these words, I know many women who can be accurately described by these words, as well as many men who cannot. Why is the author c…

I don't think that that was Ahl's intentions when she labelled those terms as 'male-gendered'. I do not believe that she meant they were male-gendered like say.. 'he' or 'him'.

Likely, male-genderedness is suppose to mean something along the lines of "without additional information, most people would assume these words refer to a male rather than a female". The point isn't that you can't use these words to describe females, or that all males can be described by this, but that people just associate these words with males. For example, "chopsticks" -> asian, "NBA basketball player" -> African American.

This could actually be studied (though I can't find any studies... my social sciences research-fu is apparently really weak), and could actually be proven (as much as such things could be proven).

That said, without the proof that they actually are male-gendered, it's kinda flimpsy.

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#44

Post by rfnslyr »

steven2012 wrote: post #22

This article is largely garbage. Sure, Silicon Valley isn't a "perfect" meritocracy, but it is the most meritocratic of any other place in the world, at least that I've been in. In Japan, and presumably other places in Asia, women are still supposed to include a photograph with their resume, and employers are reluctant to hire married women past a certain age because they feel they will get pregnant and stop working…

>$100,000 bonus - Haha what? What department/branch of the bank? No way is it IT. Investment? I work at a bank and the most I've gotten was $10k and that's extremely rare for anyone. Hell, making $100k salaries you need to be here for like 15 years.

I'm in the wrong fucking field.

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#45

Post by Kurtz79 »

I don't agree with many of the author's assumptions (do most people working at startups in SV really think that their web/mobile app will "change the world"? do everybody in SV think that tech entrepreneurship is a solution to everything ?).

I would say that most people just want to work on something they like, having an alternative lifestyle to a 9-5 job and possibly taking the chance of making it big.

I agree that there is a excessively romatic view in some circles, but is it the real representation of what people in SV think ? Or is it the most appealing view for the media ?

Regardless, some points are valid. The fact that most (all?) entrepreneurs come from middle/upper class rings true, and the "white male" argument as well (although less so, imho).

But to the credit of tech entrepreneurship, there ARE proyects that are helping to close the gap, offering education to everybody, I think about Khan's Academy, Coursera, Udacity...

I think it's too convenient to classify tech entrepreneurs as a single group, with the same vision and ideals.

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#47

Post by lmkg »

walshemj wrote: post #38
Anechoic wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but it is the most meritocratic of any other place in the world Really? I think most pro sports leagues would give SV a run for it's money in terms of meritocracy.

You mean those with rich sugar daddy's funding them as a vanity project as most top tier football (soccer) clubs are or do you mean the socialist closed shop NFL where they only penalty for failure is the pick of next years best players.

He means the players, not the teams. Player compensation is tied more closely to performance than most other sectors, although not perfectly.

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#48

Post by peter_l_downs »

steven2012 wrote: post #22

This article is largely garbage. Sure, Silicon Valley isn't a "perfect" meritocracy, but it is the most meritocratic of any other place in the world, at least that I've been in. In Japan, and presumably other places in Asia, women are still supposed to include a photograph with their resume, and employers are reluctant to hire married women past a certain age because they feel they will get pregnant and stop working…

Congratulations on your wife's success, but how does that paragraph serve your point?

    I'm willing to bet she's made more money from her bonuses than 90% of the
    aspirational startup founders on HN. Her peers in finance are >60% women,
    and they are all extremely smart and well compensated as well.
That's finance, not the startup world, and you even make the comparison yourself! Sounds like finance companies are a much more meritocratic based on your anecdote.

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#49

Post by mtrimpe »

freefrancisco wrote: post #19

' Helene Ahl found that in business discourse 70 percent of words used to describe entrepreneurs were male-gendered — these included “self-reliant”, “assertive”, “forceful”, “risk-taking”, “self-sufficient”, “leader”, “competitive”, and “ambitious”.' I don't see anything male about any of these words, I know many women who can be accurately described by these words, as well as many men who cannot. Why is the author c…

It's about taking traits that occur more frequently in men (whether they're due to nature or nurture is irrelevant) and then using them as the scales on which to evaluate entrepreneurs. There's no reason why entrepreneurs shouldn't be described as caring, holistic, fair, benevolent, cooperative.

A good example of these kinds of hidden biases is that I've found that women tend to prefer presenting their business in a calm narrative that allows them to connect emotionally with the audience.

Most startup pitches however are designed for a rapid-fire, fast one-minute, high-energy, show-time kind of 'pitch,' which to a large degree is a display of masculinity and thus a playing field where women are at a disadvantage because they either need to bend the rules to fit their natural presentation style or imitate an unnatural presentation style; both of which are disadvantageous to them.

I still remember being at this accelerator pitch where we saw tons of decidedly mediocre companies pitch and then there was this one women who had such a powerful presence and decided to bend the rules. She extended her time from one to two minutes on the spot and convinced the event organizers to go along with that in such a beautiful display of female dominance and went on to deliver a great story that emotionally connected with almost everyone in the audience.

In the end she didn't go on to the next round of course because well ... she broke the rules ...

Re: Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy

#50

Post by pg »

The same arguments would prove that math isn't a meritocracy. Which it presumably isn't, entirely, but only because nothing is entirely. And if SV is only as much of a meritocracy as math, that's pretty good. Indeed, that's what the word means in ordinary usage.
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