We Need To Care Less About Silicon Valley
Written about this twice before — here and here — and I won’t belabor this point that much, because I’m not an active part of Silicon Valley and, with the way brains and biases work, no one really cares about criticism of their spot in the world unless it comes from someone they feel similarity with.
This is a decent article (mostly a series of book reviews) about founder myths, and near the end, this part is interesting:
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The authors argue that while tech stars hog the spotlight, small-business entrepreneurs — especially Black, brown, female, and older founders — make up a significant portion of the U.S. economy and run companies that operate in and benefit their communities. And yet “our systems of finance and mentorship have failed to keep up,” so entrepreneurship and economic opportunity are declining.
Would agree with this. All the economic oxygen — and business journalism — goes to about 25 “unicorn” companies at a given time, and that makes it hard for someone hustling and striving in Topeka to get some more capital. Obviously capital is limited, and we should all get that, but banks and other hustlers buy into these “tech-only” narratives, and homophily happens at networking events and meetings, where everyone gradually gets on the same page that we all need more tech and apps and disruption, and if you can’t find your path to that, your opportunities kinda dry up into being a drone for someone else. And you can make a good life doing that, but the Silicon Valley narratives of geniuses and fun sock-wearing guys reinventing the world and TECH ABOVE ALL TECH IS OUR TRUE GOD, that stuff needs to really stop.
It’s OK to build a successful tile business in an office park near an airport. You’re still a success. You can still have trappings. You can still have a beautiful family. Not everyone needs to be Zuck. And, in reality, wouldn’t life be better if less people were trying to be Zuck?
Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at ESS Inc.
4moI don't even have to read this to agree with the title. I am SO damn sick of this laser focus on Silicon Valley, as if the rest of the economy doesn't exist except for a few thousand software engineers with their noses whistling sitting in way too expensive offices on 'campuses' in CA. Then every time one of them gets laid off they bombard LinkedIn with press release style announcements about everything down to how it's affected their bowel movements, as if the rest of the world gives a deep fried ferret turd. You say or write the word 'engineer' these days and everyone assumes software, as if the people who design and build the computers these people use and the buildings they sit in and the cars they drive and the planes and trains that deliver their consumables don't even exist, and the whole lot is butthurt now because knowing what OnMouseHover means doesn't guarantee a seven figure income and retirement at 25 anymore.
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4moI agree, Ted!