The inbreed microcosm that is Silicon Valley
There are so many interesting topics that I have been meaning to write about; the NYC start-up scene, a few interesting pieces on developing start-ups, and the latest and greatest about jQuery.
No that's not why I'm writing my next post, it's this article. "So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…" by Michael Arrington describes the godfather conspiracy theory of Silicon Valley. There is collusion among many "Super Angels" in the Valley to fix pricing and eliminate the competition, Y-Combinator. While this is possible, I would tend to doubt it--except the bit about them all being at Bin38. It's a great wine bar with a good scene and a dose of heavy hitters and beautiful women. "Why?", you might ask. Because these are all smart, lucky individuals who have a lot to lose and they have been doing business together for some time.
The drama is written on the wall. Articles are appearing on HackerNews and TechCrunch comments are running long. Expected sure-fire responses by Angels, like Dave McClure and Chris Yeh. But, this isn't the point.
- The San Francisco/Silicon Valley area is a small world.
- Geeks love their soap operas too--the channel is called TechCrunch.
Everyone knows the Valley is way too small, and word will get out. Reputations are big in this start-up world, and people know it.