How Gordon Moore Invented the Talent Economy (and Changed The World)
pandodaily.com
pandodaily.com
A lot of valid points to support how an economy in which capital chases talent is novel, including "Silicon Valley operates under a fundamentally different system that continues to drive innovation by removing significant risk factors for talent to work on new developments." And in the context of traditional relationships between capital and labor, the author's point is valid that capital, relative different economic models, chases talent in the VC industry.
Yet I wonder how this premise can fully accepted when so many entrepreneurs are still chasing capital to fund their startups and even when money is 'so easy' to raise in this market, VCs are still seemingly exhalted? Obviously for the most competitive investment opportunities (e.g. to back a seasoned entrepreneur with a stellar idea and early traction in a multi-billion dollar industry) capital is certainly chasing talent. But it looks like this 'talent economy' is still a two way street: talent continues to chase capital as well.
Because it doesn't really work like this author is describing. Silicon Valley just likes to make claims that it's different.
Sure, because of the do-it-yourself minimal-capital requirement of software (what now underlies what we know as SV), venture capitalists are able to fund ventures on a smaller, more personal level. But at the end of the day, it's a bunch of rich guys lending money to people who do the actual work. Always has been, always will be.
Even the "angel funds" are becoming a commodity, and are adopting a "spread it around and see what works" model. Just like banks do with mortgages.
Of course, the "pendulum" isn't discrete and is really a result of the plummeting cost of computing equipment so that both the garage hacker and the mega-corp can deliver outsized value by leveraging their unique traits.