I have to wonder what’s going on in Silicon Valley. The New York Times posted today about Silicon Valley millionaires not feeling rich. One family in particular had over $2 million in the bank and a $1.3 million house paid off. Not bad right? Well apparently for this one man, Hal Steger, this isn’t good enough. He continues working 12 hour days from 7 to 7 and then works 10 hours over the weekend. Dave Winer agrees with the article and says this of Silicon Valley:
The truth is that the people of Silicon Valley toil to find security in money, never getting there, while avoiding the pleasures of life, including the mythological creativity, spinning on a treadmill, doing nothing but striving to make money, but it’s never enough.
He also states “It’s great to see people on the east coast getting the message. Don’t live in the shadow of this place. There’s nothing there but people trying to make money, without a good idea why.” That’s funny because I didn’t realize that the East coast got the message. There’s Silicon Alley in New York City and to say that the people in NYC (and even here in D.C.) haven’t absorbed some of the same attitude is ludicrous. I see it all around. You know what’s even more frightening? I see it in me.
Jeremy Toeman makes a good point when he says, “It’s these same people that are setting these terrible role models for recent college grads who think they can come out of school, go start some company with a friend or two, and make a few quick million.” Perhaps it is those “terrible role models” that have become role models for myself as well. Perhaps. It is also me that chooses to work crazy hours all for the pursuit of this invisible concept of “success.” It’s not completely invisible though because there is a goal in mind. At least for myself. I truly hope that whenever I reach my goals I don’t fall victim to the same perspective that some of these other individuals have. I think one word sums up the attitude of these individuals: greed. The moral of the story? Don’t let greed catch a hold of you.
August 5th, 2007
3 Responses to “Silicon Valley Gets Greedy”
August 6th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
It reminds me of something I’ve heard repeatedly in the psychological field.
“Fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain.”
I call it the “white picket fence arms-race,” where people are so concerned with being considered less well off than their friends, coworkers, and neighbors that they sacrifice the opportunity to go after the true things in life they desire.
August 7th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
There is also this mentality that if you’re not launching a startup, you are missing the boat. Startups should not be launched for the sake of launching; there should be a real, legitimate need for the service or product the startup aims to provide.
Look at half the startups featured on TechCrunch…VC funded and very little consideration as to how they will actually make money. The transparent goal of the founders and VCs of these startups is to get gobbled up by Google or Yahoo or whoever.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I was reading those articles as well when they were posted on the NYTimes site. Those people are just crazy!
I don’t necessarily think that college grads are being influenced by role models. I know that my brother and I, college students, want to start our own business because we don’t want to work the 8-12 hour shifts making someone else money!
We’d rather work hard right now, fail, and try again. We’re young, have the motivation and energy, and don’t have much to lose. These are all reasons why I believe that more and more college grads are starting their own businesses.
-Gregg