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I'll take this opportunity to point to the real history of SV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo

Lecture by the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. The first half doesn't seem to be about SV at all - except that it is.

Bottom line: Huge spending on R&D during WWII (based mostly on debt, by the way) by government is the true foundation of SV, private capital only came in when the field had been prepared and fertilized.

I keep posting this video when the context seems appropriate because it was an eye opener for me who had a CS and a business education and had always thought SV was the proof of private capital's success.

Just got around to watching the lecture. Fascinating, thanks for posting.

Not what you'd associate with the current trend of SV startups. But Companies like HP, Apple. Started small. Actually kind of started as life style businesses, and then grew.

How else do you start without millions in the bank?

SV is a lot different than it used to be.