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Comment by EvanPlaice | Hacker News Reader

Doesn't SV seem just a bit too... incestuous at this point.

There's a whole wide world of people and businesses that could benefit from software.

so go invest in one? Oh that's right, neither you nor anybody else invests in other than hot SV startups. You're voting with your dollars here. No seriously - if you're not writing checks you can't complain about what the recipients of those checks have to do to get the money. You're acting like they have a choice.

Not sure why you're getting downvotes; you're both correct and rightfully angry.

What we all can, and should, complain about is the practices of VCs themselves, which are turning the tech industry and a lot of things in its immediate wake into a complete disaster.

How exactly do you invest in a startup, and how can you see their financials? It's not like they're listed on NASDAQ. And how would you know your shares are secure, without bringing in lawyers? Investing in a startup seems complicated to me.

If you don't personally know entrepreneurs you'd like to back, you could check out Funder's Club [0] or AngelList [1].

[0]: https://fundersclub.com/ [1]: https://angel.co/

Well you could say the same about any privately held company, from the behemoths like Koch Industries to your local mom and pop laundromat [1]. What you describe isn't really limited to tech startups (tm).

[1] Though some laundromat empire can be staggering in scope I imagine.

For starters, you need to be an accredited investor [1]. If you don't make more than $200,000 a year or have a net worth exceeding $1 million, those are the intermediate goals to aim for.

[1] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/accreditedinvestor.asp

this changed recently! :) I believe your information is now out of date.

Companies like Exxon, BRK, Johnson & Johnson etc might be surprised to hear that no one is investing in them. Even the most unicorny of the unicorns (Uber) barely cracks the top 20% of the S&P 500.

Thats to say nothing of other investment vehicles like treasuries or real estate.

SV is an important side show in the investment arena, but it is just a side show.

I won't speak to whether SV has a problem with being insular as I don't have any information one way or the other. Your comment though might be titled exhibit #1 for "lack of wider vision".

So I was specifically referring to startups. The question/issue I was answering was "Doesn't SV seem just a bit too... incestuous at this point. There's a whole wide world of people and businesses that could benefit from software."

Each of those major verticals supports software/technology companies. I'm sure Exxon has a whole ecosystem of smaller companies hanging from it that are all extremely sophisticated from a technology standpoint. There are probably any number of disrupting technological innovations waiting to happen in those industries that have virtually no SV presence.

When people talk about the insular nature of SV they are usually referring to the echo chamber it creates. To those of us on the outside looking in, it seems like SV is more interested in "a social network for X" or "Uber for Y" than branching out to those other major industries.

I don't like the example of exxon, but I'll do my best. So let's say, I don't know, some startup figures out cheaper solar (so in the energy sector, like exxon in a broad sense). They're not going to raise money easily or at all in my personal opinion and experience, and would do very well to get government assistance for their innovations, this being their only source of viable funding. Anybody who doesn't want to fund alternatives to the SV "social network for X" or "Uber for Y" is not just metaphorically "part of the problem" but in fact the definition of the 'problem': the 'problem' is that nobody wants to invest in these startups in these other sectors.

Not in some metaphorical way. You, xyzzy4, and all 8 of my downvoters across my couple of comments here would consider investing in a silicon valley social network but would never consider investing in the above. Just won't happen.

if you want this to change you have to take out your pocketbook and start writing checks. that simple. it's like complaining that mcdonald's doesn't sell vegan hamburgers while buying 7 big macs a week. they don't sell vegan hamburgers because people buy big macs but they don't not buy vegan big macs and then complain to mcdonald's then they can't - and anybody that tried to open a vegan fast food hamburger joint competing with BK, McDonald's, and Wendie's would find that people do not show up, do not take out their cash, and buy a vegan big mac.

It is what it is! Fast food restaurants don't sell vegan hamburgers because people don't buy vegan hamburgers, and startups don't operate outside "social network for X" or "Uber for Y" echo chamber because investors - specifically you, whatever reader you are - don't invest in these things. if you want this to change, take out your pocketbook and write a check.

I believe the gist of what you're getting at is that there's a whole 'underbelly' of tech that doesn't talk about itself on the internet all the time.

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