Robert Noyce and His Congregation (1997)

Tom Wolfe wrote “The Tinkering’s of Robert Noyce” http://web.stanford.edu/class/e140/e140a/content/noyce.html (discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8133479 ) about the founding and early culture at Fairchild and Intel for Esquire in December of 1983 and updated it for Forbes ASAP fourteen years later as “Robert Noyce and his Congregation.” (Aug-25-1997) The updated version makes a much stronger connection between the flat hierarchy of the Dissenting Protestant churches and the egalitarian nature of many Silicon Valley startups.

As a small-town Iowa protestant minister's son turned programmer... sheesh. It all makes sense now.

I've always thought it funny how people like their perks and I've always been deeply annoyed when direct reports asked for them. Those feelings go back to church and small-town life, where you're taught, severely, never to ask for any comfort.

Incredible article. My startup is growing and I'm not sure what direction to take the culture in——Noyce provides some solid inspiration.