Silicon Valley isn’t Autistic, It’s Just Full of Assholes

[Silicon Valley] is a hard place to write about. It’s a lack of emotional content. It’s a cold place. I mean, it’s basically a bunch of autistic people walking around.
–Michael Lewis

I wasn’t aware that Silicon Valley had become some sort of leper colony for autism patients. I guess I haven’t been paying attention.

It is also possible that Mr. Lewis misdiagnosed the respective symptoms of autism and asshole. They can be hard to distinguish.

More concerning is that this is how the outside world actually sees Silicon Valley. This, coming from the author of Moneyball, Liar’s Poker, The Big Short, and Flash Boys. The writer who created sympathetic characters out of Wall Street and pro baseball says it’s difficult to write about Silicon Valley because Silicon Valley has no soul.

Why? Because we celebrate people like this:

And this heartwarming response to Chamath Palihapitiya‘s assertion that venture capital is full of Bros Funding Bros:

[ Previously, Marc Andreessen tweeted that his a16z team had x% females, y% African-American/Latino, and z% female African-American/Latino. Kevin Roose replied with “Now do the GPs!”. Andreessen has since deleted his tweet. ]

Marc did not respond Roose’s request. It’s no secret that A16Z has eight General Partners*. 0% female, 0% African-American/Latino, 0% female African-American/Latino.

Some might think it a bit tactless to boast about their firm’s inclusion of minority women when 100% of the minority women are recruiters, marketers, or admin-assistants.

Here are some pie charts!
Here are some pie charts!

Investment banking also has a culture of “Bros Funding Bros”, but at least they have the social grace to own up to it. Is Silicon Valley in denial, autistic, or run by even bigger assholes than Wall Street?

I don’t think Marc Andreessen is autistic; nor do I believe he’s an asshole. Andreessen has simply been hero-worshiped for so long that he has lost touch with reality.

Retired angel investor Tucker Max observed: “Perhaps the biggest thrill in angel investing is that people flatter you and beg you for your resources, and this makes you feel powerful and respected.”

While Wall Street investors spend their days kissing client ass, Sand Hill investors have their asses kissed by legions of startup founders.

Not only does Silicon Valley extol those who were born on third and scored on a wild pitch, we stroke their egos until they’re convinced that they scored a triple and stole home.

The more we glorify venture capitalists, the more influence their opinion has on early-stage companies’ success. As a result, Silicon Valley ends up with a public image shaped by a few entitled elite.

No, Michael Lewis, not everybody in Palo Alto is rich. What more, Marc Andreessen is not the voice of Silicon Valley. Neither are Dave McClure or Jack Dorsey.

If I’ve learned one thing from reading your books, it’s that you appreciate an underdog. So try listening to the underdogs for a change. The guys who failed to get jobs at Facebook. The tech companies that grew without venture capital. The people who give voice to those that have none.

Listen to those who aren’t celebrated only for their bankroll. Then see if you still think Silicon Valley has no soul.

brian acton-fb-job

*The A16Z GPs I counted were Ken Rampell, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Chris Dixon, John O’Farrell, Lars Dalgaard, Peter Levine, and Scott Weiss.

Wall Street Wars by Richard E. Farley

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This is the fascinating story of how government officials came together to create federal securities law.

Ha just kidding, god this book was boring. I was in bed with the stomach flu for two days and there was nothing good on the internet.

So here’s the gist: Financial regulation generally follows one of two themes, depending on whom you want to villainize.

  1. Rich people will do anything to become more rich. They follow the letter of the law while violating the spirit of the law.

    Eventually, one or more of them is hoisted by his own petard. Regulators realize this is bad. They make a rule to punish this activity. While they’re at it, they think of possible permutations of the activity and make a rule banning each one.

    That’s why the Securities Exchange Act is 371 pages in 8-point font, with 914 pages of amendments* in the form of Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank.

    Rich people pay lawyers to read through all the rules. They find a new profitable activity that follows the letter of the law while violating the spirit of the law. Rinse and repeat.

    *There are actually way more amendments, but I didn’t feel like looking up everything between 1934 and 2002.

  2. Everyone is happy and things are getting better all the time. Credit expansion is encouraged. The government subsidizes loans and provides tax credits to borrowers.

    To maintain growth rates, lenders become less discriminating with their practices. Soon everyone and their deadbeat cousin has borrowed money to buy a house, found a startup, invest in an East Indian trading Company, or get an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

    Then some borrowers don’t repay their debts. Lenders collapse. Panic ensues.

    It turns out there were good reasons why credit had previously been constrained. Regulators make some rules about that.

    The economy contracts. Then things start to look good again. Repeat ad nauseam.

    See Also: How the Economic Machine Works, by Ray Dalio

If you like reading 300-page history texts, read this book. If you’re a normal human being, here’s Schoolhouse Rock:

Disclosure: The author of this book is a partner at the law firm that represents the company that gives me a paycheck every two weeks.

I ate some Cheez-Its

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Nothing says “I hate myself” like a box of Cheez-Its.

Why do the nutrition facts tell me there are 25 crackers in a serving, 11 servings to a box? Just give me the nutrition facts for the whole damn box, that’s my serving size.

I don’t even really like Cheez-Its.

We have Cheez-Its at work. Our company lets us expense anything the internet delivers. We only have regular Cheez-Its right now.

The company office is nice. The kind of nice you get after $14 million in venture funding.

I spent the hottest weekends here last month, for the A/C.

Who am I kidding? I came here because I live in a dump.

I live in a shared apartment, with less privacy than when I lived in a college dorm. Bay Area housing shortage.

Previously, I rented the palatial crawl space above an auto shop. Best home ever. Then Google bought it for $12 million and knocked it all down. They’re probably hiring.

I bought my own varietal Cheez-Its so that I could have something different at home. Something not already stocked in the office kitchen. Otherwise what reason do I have to ever leave?

I’m not going to write a thoughtful review of each flavor. When you’re stuffing Cheez-Its to fill the void where your soul used to be, everything tastes the same. The obligations of daily life enforce a certain banality onto existence. Maybe with enough creativity you avoid the life of a cog, but I’m not sure I can pull it off anymore.

My coworkers had a case of Red Bull shipped to the office today. We know how much you like Red Bull, they said.

I love Red Bull. I loved Red Bull because it was special. Something I saved for motorcycle races and hackathons. Last year my best friend gave me a case of Red Bull for my birthday.

Now it shows up as a staple with our weekly office supplies.

I don’t know why I hate it here. I tell my friends I want to leave.

Come work at our company, they invariably offer. You might like it better.

But I have a great job. I adore my coworkers. It’s myself that I hate. It’s my lack of imagination that I hate. And no amount of change can change that.

I think I’ll go home now. Maybe I’ll eat some Cheez-Its.

Kickstarter: A Backwards Keynesian Beauty Contest

rheingold

A Keynesian Beauty Contest is a voting contest where the most popular entrant wins, but those who picked the most popular entrant are also rewarded. Voters are incentivized to choose not whom they find beautiful, but whom they think other people find beautiful.

Rheingold Beer ran a contest for Miss Rheingold from 1940 to 1965. It got so popular in NYC that Miss Rheingold voters outnumbered those of the Presidential election turnout.

People began placing bets in addition to just voting for a winner. In a Keynesian beauty contest, the winner is not always the most striking, but generally inoffensive.

Other things that are Keynesian beauty contests: The stock market. The Republican nominee. Targets of moral outrage. Unicorns.

Crowdfunding campaigns are just the opposite.

I get frequent requests to back all manner of gadgets/screenplays/iPhone apps on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. I only back crowdfunding campaigns that I expect to fail.

The beauty of crowdfunding campaigns is that your contribution is only collected if the campaign reaches its fundraising goal. You could pledge a million dollars to a Greek Bailout Fund, but if they need 1.6 billion euro to succeed, you can be pretty confident that you’ll get your money back.

oh no, I really wanted to fund a Greek bailout :(
oh no, I really wanted to fund a Greek bailout 🙁

It’s like placing a bet, where the payoff is a little bit of Kickstarter karma.

Sometimes I get a massively disappointing email like this:

REALLY?? I actually have to pay the $50 I pledged to your Silicon Valley-themed Pokemon cards??
REALLY?? I actually have to pay the $50 I pledged to your Silicon Valley-themed Pokemon cards??

My theory is that the backwards Keynesian-beauty-contest dynamic is what gives traction to many incredibly stupid crowdfunding campaigns. Potato salad. $13 million dollar cooler. Dog selfie stick.

Dumb herd mentality gets them the rest of the way there.

Link

Three More Days for the Reverse Raffle!

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