Why Silicon Valley Works • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#41

Post by hackuser » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:47 PM UTC

anateus wrote: post #2

Two sentences early on are problematic: "One of the biggest misconceptions about us is that you need to have pre-existing connections to get value from the network. Remarkably, you don’t. " If Sam had said "you need them in Silicon Valley much less than anywhere else" it would be a true statement. But in an article I strongly agree with, this sort of thing... I'm not even sure what to call it, misinformation? Makes t…

But he goes on to describe the Y Combinator insider network as extremely valuable, which seems to contradict the statement you quote:

> Our network works because it has very strong connections. Founders are generally closer to their earliest investors and less close to their later investors. They are closest of all to the peers they were around when struggling to get their start. Therefore, YC founders are typically willing to do anything they can to help another YC founder. ...

> I often ask founders what surprised them most about going through YC, and a common answer is the degree to which YC is a "meta-company". ... the connection is so strong that alumni companies get significant benefits from each other. Most YC founders tell us they get more help from other YC founders than all other friends of the company, advisors and investors put together.

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#42

Post by smtddr » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:48 PM UTC

x0x0 wrote: post #38

clairity wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds like it's not the place for you. a household making "only" $120k, no matter where you live, puts you in the top 15% by income in the US--hardly the "working poor" (see census data). trying to keep up with the joneses, on the other hand, can warp your sense of relative privilege. top 15% in the US is among the top few percent in the world. keep that in mind, and that'll help assuage the negative feelings that c…

You don't understand what it costs to live here. Keeping up with the Joneses means envy for new and shiny, not wanting a modest house, cars, kids, and retirement savings. And here, that means an income of $250k is tough to do -- one bedrooms in sf are $3500; condos in the peninsula sell for $700k+ and houses cost $1100/ft^2. $240k married filing jointly w/ 2 kids means $5900 hits your bank account twice a month. Esse…

>>not wanting a modest house, cars, kids, and retirement savings

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say most people in USA don't even have all those things.

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#43

Post by benmathes » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:48 PM UTC

anateus wrote: post #2

Two sentences early on are problematic: "One of the biggest misconceptions about us is that you need to have pre-existing connections to get value from the network. Remarkably, you don’t. " If Sam had said "you need them in Silicon Valley much less than anywhere else" it would be a true statement. But in an article I strongly agree with, this sort of thing... I'm not even sure what to call it, misinformation? Makes t…

You're right that it's partially true. Why the idealistic spin from @sama? Consider the incentives. One of YC's macro strengths is a silicon valley onramp.

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#44

Post by basher » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:49 PM UTC

zoba wrote: post #31

Another reason I think the valley works so well is the audience its news outlets have. If you have a great product but can't get news coverage on it, its going to be hard to get growth without a large marketing budget. However, if you're friends with a friend of a Techcrunch write, its much easier to get covered and start to get a core group of users who love your product - and are tech savvy enough to understand tha…

Is asking tech journalists you've just met to write about your startup considered annoying?

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#45

Post by emjaygee » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:49 PM UTC

2pasc wrote: post #28

steven2012 wrote: post #17

No. The reason why Silicon Valley works is because of the intense greed that it provokes amongst everyone that comes here. Maybe "greed" is too strong of a word, because people aren't necessarily selfish, maybe "money-focused" is probably more accurate. And because anyone can come here and become a millionaire/billionaire, it draws in an immense number of hard-working people which just generally increase the level of…

What you are talking about is a new phenomenon. Silicon Valley in 2008 was different - rents were lower, and $120K with 2 kids and one income was OK. There has been a dramatic increase in rent/real estate prices in the last 6 years that has completely schewed the system and the culture. Silicon Valley has thrived in years when rents were OK, people were not greedy and yet great Companies were built. I remember going…

Except for the phone observation, he matches what I saw in say '90 completely. And replies like yours were also common even back then.

I'm inclined to agree that it's about the money.

I'm not sure that it's a good thing but it's certainly an engine that's spinning hard.

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#46

Post by ig1 » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:50 PM UTC

steven2012 wrote: post #17

No. The reason why Silicon Valley works is because of the intense greed that it provokes amongst everyone that comes here. Maybe "greed" is too strong of a word, because people aren't necessarily selfish, maybe "money-focused" is probably more accurate. And because anyone can come here and become a millionaire/billionaire, it draws in an immense number of hard-working people which just generally increase the level of…

It's vastly easier to become a millionaire in finance than in tech.

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#47

Post by steven2012 » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:50 PM UTC

2pasc wrote: post #28

steven2012 wrote: post #17

No. The reason why Silicon Valley works is because of the intense greed that it provokes amongst everyone that comes here. Maybe "greed" is too strong of a word, because people aren't necessarily selfish, maybe "money-focused" is probably more accurate. And because anyone can come here and become a millionaire/billionaire, it draws in an immense number of hard-working people which just generally increase the level of…

What you are talking about is a new phenomenon. Silicon Valley in 2008 was different - rents were lower, and $120K with 2 kids and one income was OK. There has been a dramatic increase in rent/real estate prices in the last 6 years that has completely schewed the system and the culture. Silicon Valley has thrived in years when rents were OK, people were not greedy and yet great Companies were built. I remember going…

No. I've been in the Valley since the Netscape IPO. It's always been like this since at least the mid 90s.

You don't know because you came out of school at essentially the nadir of the dot-com bust, you only know how things went from shit to great to bubblicious in the last 10 years. Sure, rents have gone insane in the last 2-3 years, but rents have always been high. From 2001 to 2004/5, rents were low, traffic was great, etc, because of the sheer number of jobs lost. Per capita, the number of jobs lost in SV from the bust was worse than Detroit.

But during the dot com bubble, it was definitely like this, and the one thing you also don't realize is that the house prices were not affected by the bust, money moved from the stock market into real estate in the Bay Area. House prices went nuts during this time, until the housing bust and only now have prices surpassed 2007 prices.

But SV has always been about greed and making money.

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#48

Post by ig1 » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:53 PM UTC

zoba wrote: post #31

Another reason I think the valley works so well is the audience its news outlets have. If you have a great product but can't get news coverage on it, its going to be hard to get growth without a large marketing budget. However, if you're friends with a friend of a Techcrunch write, its much easier to get covered and start to get a core group of users who love your product - and are tech savvy enough to understand tha…

I think you're vastly over estimating the impact of tech news sites. A decent front page article on techcrunch will get you a couple of thousand visitors, the vast majority of which won't be in your core customer group.

The main advantage of tech news sites is that they're read by potential investors, partners, employees, etc. rather than because they get you users.

You really need to get your early users through graft, tech news coverage won't really help you except in exceptional circumstances.

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#49

Post by dba7dba » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 7:55 PM UTC

"Nearly everyone wants to get rich but they’re willing to wait to do so.

... A focus on making a lot of money in the long term at the expense of short-term opportunities is essential to building companies that have a huge impact – they take a long time."

Sounds like a good advice for CEOs and politicians in DC. Focusing on the long term goals...

Re: Why Silicon Valley Works

#50

Post by jforman » Mon, Nov 03, 2014, 8:00 PM UTC

clairity wrote: post #24

steven2012 wrote: post #17

No. The reason why Silicon Valley works is because of the intense greed that it provokes amongst everyone that comes here. Maybe "greed" is too strong of a word, because people aren't necessarily selfish, maybe "money-focused" is probably more accurate. And because anyone can come here and become a millionaire/billionaire, it draws in an immense number of hard-working people which just generally increase the level of…

sounds like it's not the place for you. a household making "only" $120k, no matter where you live, puts you in the top 15% by income in the US--hardly the "working poor" (see census data). trying to keep up with the joneses, on the other hand, can warp your sense of relative privilege. top 15% in the US is among the top few percent in the world. keep that in mind, and that'll help assuage the negative feelings that c…

"No matter where you live" ?

The 80th percentile for household income in 2012 was $160,000. This does really crazy things to a relatively static housing supply:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/In-growth-of-wealth-ga...

This isn't just about "keeping up with the Joneses." Most families want a) a decent home, and b) a good education for their children. I had to pay an obscene amount for a) in SF, and I was holding my breath while figuring out how to pull off b). My quality of life otherwise was relatively ordinary: I drove a Toyota and didn't go out all that much due to the newborn.

I made a princely sum compared to the average American. Had I lived in average America, I would have lived like a prince (you could literally buy a mansion for the price of my 3BR home in most places in the US). But since I lived in SF, I could only barely afford the basics. This has nothing to do with skewed expectations on quality of life — it's about the skewed economics of the city.