I think you have it backwards. Big Bang Theory these days is primarily a sitcom with some geek humor* thrown in.
* I use the term geek humor loosely. I don't consider superhero outfits or comparing someone to $nobelLaureate to be proper jokes (especially if I mentally edit out the laugh track).
Often (not always, though) shows with laugh tracks are an entirely different level of "not funny". It's bad when the show creators have to rely on cheap psychological gags to trick you into enjoying yourself. Silicon Valley operated at a higher level than that, although I still found a lot of its humor just referential and not too humorous or too easy. Honestly, just reading hacker news every day provides you with way more satire than the show does... I didn't watch anything past the first episode, so I can't speak to the story which you seem to like - I was just looking for a comedy show.
But tastes do differ. Especially when it comes to comedy. I'm glad you liked the show. I wouldn't compare it to Big Bang Theory, but I wasn't a fan.
The three camera and laugh track are usually indicators that the show probably isn't "smart funny", but it's not always true. I can watch Seinfeld reruns and pick out the camera cuts, laugh tracks and joke timings, but the show is still pretty clever.
But most people capable of making shows of Seinfeld-quality aren't going to go do a CBS sitcom. Seinfeld's set up was mostly a relic of its era. Today, you can get a single-camera comedy greenlit thanks to the cable channels. Even networks took some chances. I don't watch too many network shows anymore, but I know Scrubs and Arrested Development were single camera shows without laugh tracks and they were on NBC/ABC and Fox, respectively.
As for Silicon Valley, I was expecting more from it. It's a Mike Judge show and the reviews were very positive. I've only seen the first two episodes, but they were at least good enough to make me want to watch more. It sometimes takes these shows a while to build the characters and build enough background for more jokes to connect, but at this point, I'm more worried about the story lines being thin than the comedy. That's what ultimately lost my interest in Entourage. That show started out as being a fun 30 minutes, but it was very superficial and once you realized that the plots were ridiculous and the characters didn't make that much sense, it became tedious to watch. Since both Entourage and Silicon Valley are both based on specific, unique cultures, I think they're fairly comparable.
Compared to that, SV is much much better in my opinion. I can't even watch BBT because the laugh track is so grating and don't get me started about "Bazinga", the most trite manufactured catch-phrase ever created.
I feel now that the basic premise of the show has been established (which may be pretty obvious to us, but probably not to the average Joe) and you have an idea of who the characters are Mike Judge's true strengths can start to shine.
I do agree that there are more than a few cringe moments if you have some knowledge of the tech and startup scene (the more you have, the worse it gets), but if you can see past that and they keep the momentum from the last episode I think we're in for a pretty nice show that is treating a topic that hasn't gotten all that much attention from main stream media so far and to be perfectly honest, could use a little bit of poking fun at.
that's because you're who they're making fun of. this entire show is satire.
I find the supporting characters much more funny and enjoyable.