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Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

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Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#81

Post by B1FF_PSUVM »

abritinthebay wrote: post #71
adrianratnapala wrote: post #60

No idea if Mr. Thiel is right in this decade, but long term silicon valley has lost its main advantage: silicon. The physical business of building computer parts, especially chips, involves a lot of hard science and deep magic and requires a kind of priesthood steeped in that magic. SV's original success was built on this -- it got rich because it is where the silicon priests lived. But now things have evolved so the…

Silicon Valley has not been about the raw production of silicon chips for over 30 years now. It's been about software and design of hardware for at least that long. You're also ignoring the networking advantages (personal, career, and business) that proximity provides. They are not trivial. It's why SV has stuck around post dot-com.

It's almost like the VCs in whatchamacallit road tell everybody else to telecommute, but they themselves don't care much about moving around to keep an eye on the troops.

Lazy bas --- err, I mean, damn efficient, well done, old beans.

(Screw the cattle who have to deal with the fallout. Not adding value.)

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#82

Post by vonmoltke »

kmonsen wrote: post #74
vonmoltke wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet SV companies complain the loudest about having a hard time finding talent. In large part, I suspect, because of decreasing amounts of talent that want to put up with the area.

People are having problems finding cheap talent. I lived in both bay area and NYC and in both places I would constantly get lowball offers. You can get really good engineers in bay area, it just cost more than many are willing to pay.

True, but part of the reason talent is so expensive is because companies have to compete for it. I would not call a market where good people regularly pull down multiple offers one that is good for employers or one where talent is readily available.

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#83

Post by junkcollector »

komali2 wrote: post #79

>You just need some talented people... Well, yea, hence silicon valley. Like begets like - if there's a place where all the best engineers are hanging out, why wouldn't a budding engineer head out there? This is literally why I moved to San Francisco from Houston :P And then, the best of the best engineers making oodles of money are probably not going to want to live in like, Michigan, growing tech sector or no. Give…

Sure, you're making a mistake that is very common around HN. You're conflating technology and programming. If you wanted to study chemistry and be a chemical engineer, Houston is absolutely where you would be flocking to instead of SF. I think the next big tech market is going to be medical and genetics which means Minneapolis and Boston are the places to be watching.

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#84

Post by strange_quark »

CalChris wrote: post #66
derekp7 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why Chicago isn't more of a major destination for tech companies. The city is highly walkable, has excellent transportation infrastructure, and low cost nice housing is plentiful within an hour commute by train or car. You can get a nice house for less than 200k, apartment rent is around 600 - 1000 a month. In the city, there are a lot of old 3-4 story houses that have been converted to each floor being a re…

University of Chicago isn't a bad school. I am, however, straining to think of another Chicago research university. But then compare it to Stanford+Cal+UCSF and it just isn't a fair fight. An underrated advantage in SV is its top tier legal and capital talent. WSGR, Cooley, Fenwick, ... are outstanding. For VCs you can start with Sequoia at the top and work your way all the way down to angels. L+S did a demo in Andy…

UChicago is an excellent school, right up there with Stanford and the Ivys, and you're forgetting Northwestern, UIUC, Wisconsin - Madison, Michigan - Ann Arbor, Purdue, and plenty others.

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#85

Post by perfmode »

komali2 wrote: post #79

>You just need some talented people... Well, yea, hence silicon valley. Like begets like - if there's a place where all the best engineers are hanging out, why wouldn't a budding engineer head out there? This is literally why I moved to San Francisco from Houston :P And then, the best of the best engineers making oodles of money are probably not going to want to live in like, Michigan, growing tech sector or no. Give…

Vegas?

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#86

Post by yorison »

icu wrote: post #32
melling wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He referenced China. Any big startups come out of there?

China is a funny one. For sure there is 'hustle'... I was scammed many a time in Beijing... But there is this really important cultral dimension in China called "guanxi". It's not easy to summarise the importance and pervasiveness of guanxi... from a Western perspective it could be described as corruption but it's more like a social currency that is involved in any important transaction.

To put things in a Western perspective,

- "guanxi" = old boy's club

- "face" = Italian mobster respect

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#87

Post by bllguo »

kevan wrote: post #75
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #30

One of the attributes of The Valley that are not easily reproduced is the forced cross pollination of knowledge and experience among the tech work force. This is forced through layoffs as companies, industries and the economy run through their cycles. This cross pollination leads to several outcomes: 1. the workforce is diverse in experience; 2. employees tend to work harder and longer hours in order to keep their jo…

Why do you think this is unique to the valley? At a first glance every major metro area has this, what's so different?

> [It] remains unique not in the fact that it happens, but in the scale that it happens

There are probably more tech workers in SV than any other major metro area

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#88

Post by CalChris »

strange_quark wrote: post #84
CalChris wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

University of Chicago isn't a bad school. I am, however, straining to think of another Chicago research university. But then compare it to Stanford+Cal+UCSF and it just isn't a fair fight. An underrated advantage in SV is its top tier legal and capital talent. WSGR, Cooley, Fenwick, ... are outstanding. For VCs you can start with Sequoia at the top and work your way all the way down to angels. L+S did a demo in Andy…

UChicago is an excellent school, right up there with Stanford and the Ivys, and you're forgetting Northwestern, UIUC, Wisconsin - Madison, Michigan - Ann Arbor, Purdue, and plenty others.

There's a good reason I've never met anyone from the University of Chicago in Silicon Valley. It doesn't have an engineering school. I have met two people from Moscow State University (quite a bit further, no?) in Silicon Valley. It does have an engineering school.

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#89

Post by mi100hael »

leggomylibro wrote: post #80
adrianratnapala wrote: post #60

No idea if Mr. Thiel is right in this decade, but long term silicon valley has lost its main advantage: silicon. The physical business of building computer parts, especially chips, involves a lot of hard science and deep magic and requires a kind of priesthood steeped in that magic. SV's original success was built on this -- it got rich because it is where the silicon priests lived. But now things have evolved so the…

It's a shame that this happened, but you can see how it did. Those chips were built on the fervor of people imagining what we could someday do with them. They could create a connected world, solve and create so many problems on a global scale...it's not super surprising that their successors went on to do those things. What is surprising, and shameful, is how investors reacted, buying into the mania hook line and sin…

> There cannot be a Bell Labs or Fairchild Semi in silicon valley today, because they could not promise 10,000,000% user growth and a massive acquisition in N years.

Sure there can, they just can't have VC as a part of their business plan.

Thankfully, more and more startups are realizing that VC is not their only option, nor usually their best one.

Re: Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley’s monopoly on big growth tech companies is over

#90

Post by leggomylibro »

mi100hael wrote: post #89
leggomylibro wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a shame that this happened, but you can see how it did. Those chips were built on the fervor of people imagining what we could someday do with them. They could create a connected world, solve and create so many problems on a global scale...it's not super surprising that their successors went on to do those things. What is surprising, and shameful, is how investors reacted, buying into the mania hook line and sin…

> There cannot be a Bell Labs or Fairchild Semi in silicon valley today, because they could not promise 10,000,000% user growth and a massive acquisition in N years. Sure there can, they just can't have VC as a part of their business plan. Thankfully, more and more startups are realizing that VC is not their only option, nor usually their best one.

Good point - they will still need someone to front a lot of money, though. Talent and film-deposition facilities ain't cheap.

I guess they could go with a Bajillionaire Patron, or get funding through usury. Sorry, those aren't even close to fair comparisons, but 'bootstrapping' does seem pretty out of reach these days, for people who don't already have 8-10 figures laying around.

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