Culture in the Valley
Success in Silicon Valley is all about embracing its culture of openness and the free exchange of ideas. The rest is work, work, work. Whatever little time is left is for coffee, sex and podcasts. Visitors to One Hacker Way, Menlo Park, where Facebook has its headquarters, have reported seeing a sign on a wall there that says, “Done is better than perfect”. Sure, the relaxed Californian attitude, from the hoodies to the sneakers, is typical of Silicon Valley, but that attitude is just half the story. The other half is non-stop work and constant deadlines.
Product development cycles for Valley companies typically last weeks, not months, which is especially important in businesses where products can become old-fashioned overnight. So, making incremental progress is preferred to planning every detail at the start of a project. A common Valley mantra is: “Do it. Try it. Fix it.”
This kind of dynamic “beta” approach is quite different to the methodical consensus that many Asians and Europeans prefer. One cannot beta jet engines, but it’s become quite common for international executives to spend weeks in Silicon Valley studying the beta approach. It has advantages when it comes to decision-making and product development.
Technology professionals in Silicon Valley are also intolerant of corporate bureaucracy or anything else that slows them down. The majority want to work at companies that make decisions earlier than other firms. In these rapidresponse, risk-taking companies, whatever speeds up product development is welcomed.
“Silicon Valley didn’t have smarter people; they just had people who were wired to take different risks, who actually came out to California to take risks and to get away from the status quo,” writes Steve Blank, author of The Startup Owner’s Manual.
Silicon Valley DNA encourages its people, even when not at work, to compete with their peers, for example in picking exotic and extreme places for vacations. In this way, relaxation is a form of work in itself, and of course the vacation has to be perfectly Instagrammed.
Coffee, sex and podcasts
Coffee is not just coffee in Silicon Valley. You are what you drink, and many drink only “third wave” coffee, which is a high-quality liquid that’s considered to be every bit as valuable as wine. Then, there are “single-origin beans”. Singleorigin coffee beans are grown in a specific geographic region, on just one farm. Blue Bottle Coffee put the third wave and the single-origin bean together in Oakland and what followed is a very Silicon Valley story. In 2012, Blue Bottle received $20 million in venture capital investment and it raised another $25 million in 2014. A further $75 million was raised in 2015, and in September 2017, Nestle S.A., the world’s largest foodand-drinks company, acquired a majority stake in Blue Bottle. The details of the deal were not disclosed but the Financial Times reported: “Nestle is understood to be paying up to $500 million for the 68 per cent stake in Blue Bottle.”
“Tipsy programmers are chatting with frisky cougars about companies they have helped build and the ones they’ve