Read on Twitter
SV doing some self-examination, deciding that those leaving were never really “in it for SV” they were just there to profit and leave all along... well, that’s an interesting rewrite and maybe true for individuals or some startups, but...
Oracle and HP built Silicon Valley. You can argue HPE isn’t HP, and that’s fair. And that HPE lost its way, again, fair. Oracle still has its founder at the helm (hey Larry!), Redwood Shores might as well be Oracle shores.
And Tesla didn’t have to build cars in California. That was crazy, but Musk did it. I don’t think he was just there for the dollar, and to get out... But, I don’t know these folks personally so I can only throw my 2c out there.
The truth is, you are the culture you deserve. Or earn. And SV has been callous toward the cultures of literally anyplace outside of SV for eons. dismissive, condescending, sure, but that’s fine. That doesn’t really cause any harm :) And we all have fun poking at other places.
But SV is also a reflection of “Greed is good” - running rapaciously through people, resources, competitors, customers. Whatever it takes to blitzscale that thing. No matter the human cost. Give us your sleep, your family happiness, your good jobs. Sacrifice them all.
It isn’t all like that of course, but the companies that are like that are celebrated and revered in the valley, not held to account or shunned. And your culture is best defined by what you reward and what you punish.
SV is a reflection of the culture of the US as a whole. An extreme example, not that unlike NYC finance culture. (They’re different, but they’re both mirrors to the soul of American capitalism).
And SV/SF have been facing a divide culturally between tech and everything else. In an ideal world, the economic strength of tech would yield a renaissance of the arts, writing, performing, music. Is that happening?
And lest a place like Austin get smug. We have this same problem - it just isn’t as big yet. We have more appreciation of “the rest of Austin” from our tech community than what I see in most other tech hubs - I think born out of the hard times from 2001-2004 & 2008-2012
But we aren’t doing enough to funnel the wealth we create into sustainable economics for music, art, performance in Austin. And COVID is putting many venues out of business. Not to mention, performers...
And so I hope the companies that relocate to Austin from SV or California are coming here because they want to be part of our community, integrated with Austin, and additive. We don’t much like chain stores here, we shop local.
If you embrace local, you’re going to love it. But if you’re coming here to show us how it is done, or to run over what we hold dear in our community, there will be no love lost. Help us invest in housing (for homeless and those in need, not just for techies),
Help us invest in transit, in the arts, in this food and music scene we have all fallen in love with. And help us build companies that we’d be proud to work with and for, and proud to be the customers of.
In Maui, once, someone asked how does Hawaii keep its aloha spirit. The response was “I can only speak for Maui because this is my home. If you want to live here, you have to have aloha spirit. And if you don’t have aloha spirit, then get the f*** out”
And that was kind of profound. If you adopt the aloha spirit, you will be welcomed with open arms, but if you don’t, you won’t be welcomed. I hope Austin keeps its Austin spirit, which I affectionately call “keeping it weird in Austin” :)
And I hope SV can find a better balance between tech and “everything else”. And maybe re-examine some of the business practices and the care with which harm is done in the pursuit of the almighty unicorn status.
