He came from outside the valley, started from zero, and earned his way to this so called "network" by building things that got people excited.
who didn't? It's not Hollywood, there are no legacy cases
Ev came from an unusually humble background for Silicon Valley.
Steve Jobs was from Silicon Valley but grew up poor.
Reid Hoffman's mom hooked him up with vc money and a network, cause she was a rich lawyer at a fancy firm iirc.
Very few people that grew up poor are successful in Silicon Valley but they may be the most impactful as a population.
"Poor" may be stretching things a bit.
Part of the agreement his biological mother made with the Jobs family to allow them to adopt was that Steve had to go to college.