Thoughts on Tribalism

Read the Side note Carefully

Side Note: This blog mostly comes from my conversations with people in Silicon Valley, I am not knowledgable enough to talk about communities like NYC[Finance] or LA[Movies].

Groups matter, right?

There is a reason why SF produces more world changing companies than any other city in the world, why New York attracts the best financial talent and LA attracts the best of actors and directors looking to work in the film industry.

Elad Gil explores it in this blog post of his:-

Industry Towns - Where You Start A Company Matters

Here’s a cool line:-

finding your people unlocks human potential

There is nothing more important than being part of a community/group that thinks the same way you do. This is why we see every 20 year old ambitious person flocking to Bay Area to start a tech company because that’s what the community represents.

All of them will have Airpods in the next season. Okay? Don’t kill me over it.

I read this somewhere,

“If you are an ambitious person in your 20s and are are looking to start a tech company, go and spend some time in Silicon Valley because that place will lift your ambition like nothing else.”

One essential component of being in these places is the kind of mentorship that you receive. A very recent example being, the Story of Brex.

Source: TechCrunch

Plus, the culture of being in these places is amazing. Everyone talks about how Silicon Valley has this culture of paying it forward, which is absent in most cities around the world.

Source: https://link.medium.com/nV8ulsFvFX

There is also one more interesting thing happening in a place like SF. Sahil Lavingia talks about it in this tweet. I will talk more about this when I come back to India after IPOing my company on NYSE 5–6 years later 😛

Features which separate Effective Tribes such as Silicon Valley from ineffective tribes:-

1. Network Effects- Everyone is a 2nd or 3rd connection at max and super approachable.
2. Pay It Forward Culture- “I will help you figure out shit.”
3. A High Concentration of superstars in the field- Patrick Collision, Sam Altman, Balaji Srinivasan etc etc.
4. Early Stage Support Infrastructure for people beginning such as YC, Seed Funds
5. Mentorship Culture
6. Open Ideas- Everyone is open to new ideas and new people. [Obviously, you gotta ask first. You can’t just jump]
7. Shoes — — → Atoms 😆
8. Airpods 😆

From, what I am seeing SF still is the most effective tribe to be a part of if you are in tech.

PS: I just made a move to Bangalore. Ping me on Twitter if you would like to meetup. 😄