When did some of these of prominent tech people begin thinking that acting like psychopaths was the way to achieve business success?
That's a new one.
And conversely, the narrative that those with grievance against startups or their actions are anti-progress, that opposition to a tech startup means you're either stupid or corrupt.
When you're operating under the notion that what you're doing will literally move the human race forward, it becomes very easy to rationalize things that don't pass a simple smell test. Surely a bit of minor illegality is acceptable when you're going to Change The World(tm)?
I for one am glad to see this lie finally being challenged en masse.
It's unclear to me still how much of Startup/Founder Mythology was intended for PR purposes, and how much did startup execs end up believing for themselves.
Why choose? For a while, everyone who counted won - execs, investors, ibankers, even some of the workers, some of the time - when the rubes bought the line.
But eventually it starts causing problems - like when the rubes start actually expecting accountability. If you're the, ahem, ubermench, then you are also at fault when you screw up, as much as the Kalanicks of the world try to weasel, bully or deflect.
The sooner this bullshit dies, the sooner we can behave like a somewhat sane industry.
They might have to pay a few billion in fines or damages but that's all. New CEO will apologize and we'll forget it. And that is because they got caught...
Not defending them, just saying in many cases these tactics work.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/nyregion/taxi-king-is-cha...
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/taxi-king-nyc-sexually-h...