The City By The Meh: Thoughts On Falling Out Of Love With The Valley

This is really a description of why I'm bored with TechCrunch, not why I'm bored with the Bay Area.

The Valley is a lot more than the startup "scene". I just went to the Tech Museum in San Jose today (well, yesterday now). What struck me - aside from all the "sponsored by" notices - is just how much actual, genuine innovation goes on here.

Think of all the things that we, as humans, can do now that we couldn't even dream of fifteen years ago. We have rovers running around on Mars (well, a rover - RIP Spirit), performing experiments and sending back photos in near real-time that can be viewed by millions of people on the Internet. We can type a few words into our browser and get back information about nearly any topic imaginable. We can visit any place on Earth, in 3D, from both the air and the ground, without leaving our computer screen. We have computers that can fit in your pocket with more processing power than $10K servers from 10 years ago. We can read your entire human genome for a couple hundred bucks, and predict whether you're likely to get one of any number of different diseases. We can even alter the genes of a living human being to treat several conditions that used to be a death sentence.

Now think of how many of those innovations happened in the valley. Where would we be without NASA, Google, Apple, and Genentech?

I believe a lot of the problem is a certain fetishization of startups that's been going on lately, where the important thing is not what you do, but merely that you're a "startup". TechCrunch feeds into that directly, as does SXSW, and I think a lot of the author's problem is that his peer group has essentially bought into the hype cycle.

But if you follow the technology and how it can be applied to help humankind, and only consider the "startup" aspect later, there's a very different picture. Because people in the Bay Area are still doing very, very cool things. The only problem is, they're too busy doing cool things to go publicity hunting. And there're lots of other people who're doing pretty lame things but have plenty of time to pitch it. This is how it's always been - at the exact time that Larry and Sergey were working on Google in the garage, Pets.com was raising hundreds of millions in venture capital, and Kozmo.com was delivering goods to your doorstep for well under cost.

> And it’s not just me: of the five new friends I made during my first week in San Francisco – all of whom work in tech – four no longer live here. Moreover, of the dozen or so friends I’ve known longest here, all but – maybe – three have recently talked about leaving, citing the fact that more interesting opportunities for creativity and business exist elsewhere.

It's a very transient area, which is one of the things I was happy about when I moved to Italy. Over here, when you make a friend, and they'll probably be there in 5 years. It's much more productive to invest in social things here.

That said, I don't think the Bay Area is likely "going downhill" - it's a place that's constantly reinventing itself, and, objectively, has some nice things about it in terms of the climate and geography. It's just not, for me, a place to think about "long term". Maybe if you're wealthy, it's better, but the way I think about it is that even if you're rich, stuck in traffic on 101 is still stuck in traffic on 101.

Whatever. This guy really doesn't understand "The Valley" at all if he feels this way. He should just leave and go do something else.

I moved out to San Jose in 1994 and things were just starting to heat up with the Internet and it was super exciting. I lived through the crash and started a company in 2002. I eventually left the US for family reasons after having spent 11 years there.

Guess what? Things change constantly. That's the nature of the place. If you are worried that your friends are leaving etc. it's just that they are leaving, not that the place is dying.

> Of course, I’ve only been around for one cycle, and it’s quite possible it was ever thus.

He should have written that line, realized it was true and then deleted the entire article. Since he's obsessed with Zuckerberg he should think a little about the past: people were emulating Andreesen (now he looks like a pretty 'old' guy) and Filo and Yang were heroes. It just goes on and on like that.

> What I’m trying to say, I suppose, is this: I’m bored.

Fair enough. Naff off back to the UK or wherever. For my part, I'm happiest talking to the young engineers and entrepreneurs thinking of the next big thing while emulating Zuck or whoever. Who cares that they are emulating Zuck? If they have passion, they'll try to make something insanely cool. Many will fail, some others will become the people to emulate.

Sure, The Social Network was a good movie and all, but a good movie about Silicon Valley doesn't mean that now it's going to come to an end. How about Startup.com? That was excellent, or if you want to go further back read Soul of a New Machine (yeah, I know it was Route 128).

Frankly, you're a wannabe if you spend your time thinking Sarah Lacy, SXSW or The Social Network are in any way relevant.

All that matters are coders, and I'm guessing this guy isn't a coder. Just another moth flying around the flame.

I'd be burned out too if my job was to simply observe startups. It's really not all that interesting to just watch (especially in real time). Instead of leaving he should consider taking a job in one of the best startups he can find.

He's a reporter covering a war from afar. Time to pick up a rifle and get in the shit.

Everything was better when I was optimistic!

I lived in the Valley back when it spiked and tanked, from 99 through 2001. The roads were ruby red then from all the startups that were gutted. I always missed the Valley, from the friends who I left behind, and how it felt to be driving down the streets of Mountain View and Palo Alto (RIP SGI). I live in Richmond now and thats where I finally conceived the idea for another location fucking mobile fucking app for people who have checking in fucking fatigue. Outside of the Valley, I found the two souls who are not cool enough to be seen outside in hoodies and flip flops, but are hackers who are tenacious and committed to chase a problem through the wee hours of the morning, and the seed of an idea that could once grow in to a business. I am staying here for the idea to sprout and do not see myself ever returning to the valley. I miss it, but not enough to leave what I call now, home.

Starts out by talking about what a partier he is, then how he met a girl at a party, then how South by Southwest is like spring break, then how Foursquare is the new Twitter, and then I stopped reading.

The problem, honestly, is not the Valley. It's techcrunch. And authors who write stuff like this. Perhaps he saw the King's Speech, shed a tear and had a burning desire to return home to London where the tech activity amounts to just about nothing.

If the author feels that companies are over-hyped, then instead of just lavishing them with praise, he should ask critical questions of them. And not just this author, all of them. I remember watching an interview Sarah Lacy had conducted with the dude from ZocDocs and I thought to myself, "Is this for real?". She was giddy as a school girl, talking about how he played the role of Aladdin in a Disney Park when he was younger or some nonsense like that - when there are blaring holes in ZocDocs idea that she should have broached upon. At least Arrington, like him or not, had the balls to ask some tough questions and be somewhat critical.

And honestly - technology isn't just internet startups. How about that biotech company that's trying to find a cure for metastic lung cancer? No it's not going to create a bunch of billionaires overnight, but what its doing is probably far more meaningful than creating technology that allows you to check-in to your neighborhood bar to get free pretzels.

And I'm not from the Bay Area, I'm from the NYC area (believe me I'm the last one to hype the NYC tech scene), and I realize good tech companies can come from anywhere, but the Valley continues to have the special sauce that just makes things work - it's not just a matter of whats in the Valley, but also what is not (stodgy investment banks and old media) that actually helps it remain a highly creative environment - probably the most highly creative on earth right now. That's not changing any time soon.

I only just got here, now apparently everyone's leaving? Just my luck.

Our tech startup is based in Hollywood and while I love San Francisco, I find the socal weather, ambiance and temperament to be conducive to creativity. Well, that might just be me.

If he leaves, down goes the guy-to-girl ratio.

The Social Network is a film about startups, they won't re-tell the story for every successful startup.

For example, Titanic had numerous films made about it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Titanic_on_film_and_TV), but not every ship that sinks gets a movie, these didn't: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005329.html

I do not live in the Valley, so I may be clueless, but...

I get the impression from afar that the Valley has become a center of hype more than a center of substance. The whole Singularity University thing strikes me as a shark jumping moment.

I think if you believe that the current trends of the tech industry are towards less original derivative content, then you would have to accept the essence of this article. The Valley is, and has been, an allegory for the tech industry. Perhaps this is the moment where that stops being true.

And I was just about to move back. Yes, a lot feels derivative. A lot of people are doing startups again because everyone else is doing one. LA does sound cool, which is where my cofounder currently lives. Perhaps I can persuade him not to move?

So is the startup in this article Likealittle, CollegeOnly, or something totally new?

This is a story of a person, not a place. Music was better when I was fourteen too.

This seems like the Tom Friedman Talks to a Local Cabbie effect, of interpreting one's recent personal experience as an unfailing guide to global trends.

Indulging in nostalgia can be a dangerous thing.

I've decided that i'm going to tell people at tech events and investors that I'm building "a hundred dollar company". And then I'll have my almost as smooth as JT co-founder jump in and say "you know what's better than a hundred? a THOUSAND!" Of course all of this will be said with a complete straight face. Just want to see the reaction.

How can he hate on the idea of a .edu social network optimised for flirting?? As someone who attended university in the US, the idea strikes me as pure genius; I'd love to invest in it if I could.

Edit: added the word 'optimised'