Marc Andreessen, as is his wont, posted a tweetstorm this morning that was a spirited defense of Silicon Valley. It starts with this tweet:
1/One persistent canard from would-be SV critics is “Silicon Valley isn’t building/funding the right things, aka solutions to big problems”.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) July 7, 2014
One thing I always think about in reading things like this is the use of the phrase “Silicon Valley” or SV as Marc uses in his tweetstorm. Let’s look at this tweet:
14/Sixth: Anyone who thinks SV can be doing more/better/different, come join us and participate in building new things, products, companies! — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) July 7, 2014
Does Marc mean “move to Silicon Valley” or does he mean “do a startup or join one and work on this stuff”?
I actually don’t know what Marc meant by his use of SV in this tweetstorm, but having spent 25 years in the tech/startup/VC sector and having done that time outside of Silicon Valley (the place), I am sensitive to the use of those words and always wonder.
We have about a third of our portfolio in the bay area. We have about a third in NYC. We have about a third elsewhere with a large concentration in Europe where I am heading in a few weeks to attend several board meetings. I like to think of the tech startup ecosystem as a global movement. We don’t invest in Asia, South Asia, or Latin America but I see more and more interesting things coming from those regions these days.
Silicon Valley is most certainly a mindset and it is one that is infecting large swaths of the global economy. I agree with Marc’s tweetstorm, in particular this one.
12/I think this is 100% incorrect: Communication tech/apps including Internet are the foundation for everything else we’ll do for 100 years.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) July 7, 2014
And I think, when applied to the global startup ecosystem, he is absolutely right.
