> One of the biggest misconceptions about us is that you need to have pre-existing connections to get value from the network. Remarkably, you don’t. Silicon Valley is a community of outsiders that have come together. If you build something good, people will help you. It’s standard practice to ask people you’ve just met for help – and as long as you aren’t annoying about it, they usually don’t mind.
There's some truth to this, but it's not entirely accurate. The spectrum of who, what, when, where, why and how is very broad here. The top of the food chain in Silicon Valley is just as insular as Wall Street, Hollywood, etc.
> Yes, the approximately 700 YC companies are all totally independent legal entities – but the connection is so strong that alumni companies get significant benefits from each other.
Not often discussed: some of those benefits are benefits until they're not. A lot of accelerator-backed startups count other startups from the same accelerator as their largest customer segment and a source of early sales traction. When the business cycle turns and "other startups" is no longer a viable customer segment, however, a lot of startups are going to see their sales decimated because they have little to no diversification.
> Unlike other cities where people are mostly focused on cash compensation for this year, in Silicon Valley more people talk about equity than salaries (assuming, of course, that they can afford the wildly-out-of-control housing costs, which is probably the biggest weakness here right now).
This is simply not true. Most angel and venture-backed startups in the Bay Area today offer early employees miniscule amounts of equity, and engineers demand market rate compensation (where market rate compensation equals "what Google or Facebook would pay me if I could get a job there").
If you're a startup offering higher equity in lieu of salary, you will have a very difficult time hiring in the Bay Area. Most engineers are hip to the fact that this isn't likely to work out in their favor.
There's some truth to this, but it's not entirely accurate. The spectrum of who, what, when, where, why and how is very broad here. The top of the food chain in Silicon Valley is just as insular as Wall Street, Hollywood, etc.
> Yes, the approximately 700 YC companies are all totally independent legal entities – but the connection is so strong that alumni companies get significant benefits from each other.
Not often discussed: some of those benefits are benefits until they're not. A lot of accelerator-backed startups count other startups from the same accelerator as their largest customer segment and a source of early sales traction. When the business cycle turns and "other startups" is no longer a viable customer segment, however, a lot of startups are going to see their sales decimated because they have little to no diversification.
> Unlike other cities where people are mostly focused on cash compensation for this year, in Silicon Valley more people talk about equity than salaries (assuming, of course, that they can afford the wildly-out-of-control housing costs, which is probably the biggest weakness here right now).
This is simply not true. Most angel and venture-backed startups in the Bay Area today offer early employees miniscule amounts of equity, and engineers demand market rate compensation (where market rate compensation equals "what Google or Facebook would pay me if I could get a job there").
If you're a startup offering higher equity in lieu of salary, you will have a very difficult time hiring in the Bay Area. Most engineers are hip to the fact that this isn't likely to work out in their favor.