How a Trek to Silicon Valley Changed my Perspective on Innovation
The world is catching up with the Bay Area, and a new ethic of inclusive tech is overdue
Earlier this month, I travelled to the mythical land of unicorns and boy geniuses — Silicon Valley. I was attending a ‘Trek’ for young entrepreneurs from universities around the world. At first glance, this was another Bay Area caricature: yoga with venture capitalists and a ‘mindfulness’ brain scanner in my hotel room. But our generous host, Silicon Valley Bank, also brought together a self-aware and forward-thinking cohort of tech leaders and investors. Over 4 days, these speakers and panelists were the first to acknowledge: the innovation economy is changing, and in ways that may surprise you.
I am keen to share these narratives with audiences both inside and out of the ‘startup’ world. First, the structure of the tech universe no longer has Silicon Valley sitting at the center. Second, the entire culture and philosophy that undergirds innovation is being challenged. In this piece I have compiled insider insights and soundbites evidencing a tectonic shift in the way technology companies operate. But first, a bit of background on me:
I am a Canadian Rhodes Scholar and grad student at the University of Oxford. My primary fixation is on the future of our interconnected food system. After working with an agri-tech startup in Kenya, I moved to Oxford to study water scarcity risks in agriculture.
Early last year, I launched Boresha, a platform for supporting farms and food businesses in the world’s high growth markets. Since then, our team and scope have grown, thanks in large part to the incredible Oxford Foundry accelerator. After some exciting milestones and accolades in 2018, we were invited to Silicon Valley Bank’s annual Trek in San Francisco (airfare generously funded by the Oxford Foundry).
That brings us back to the matter at hand:
Silicon Valley is No Longer the Center of the Tech Universe
Ashraf Hebela, head of analytics at Silicon Valley Bank, kicked off the Trek with a striking presentation on the map of innovation. Ashraf has developed new findings through merging his passion for cosmology with rigorous analysis of the global technology sector.
In the universe of innovation, gravity matters, and the real center of gravity is moving away from Silicon Valley. Ashraf drove this metaphor further, describing the power of ‘dark matter’ — the unseen connections between people, institutions, and investors — which are strongest in a dense hub like San Francisco.
Silicon Valley has peaked as an innovation hub. The two wellsprings of its dominance — talent and capital — are becoming ubiquitous.
First, Silicon Valley no longer has a monopoly on top talent and supportive spaces that tap their potential. We know that hordes of techies in The Bay Area — where a six figure salary is ‘low-income’ — are migrating to other American cities. Meanwhile, top-notch individuals and universities have long been distributed around the globe, where hubs and accelerating environments have begun to proliferate. Throughout the Trek, a recurring theme was the importance of social capital and high-collision hubs for every breakout success in the Valley. It’s funny to think that here at Oxford, which has been around for a mere 922 years, only recently opened a startup accelerator for student ventures. Having seen the difference that the Oxford Foundry has made in mine and others’ entrepreneurial journey, I believe that these active networks and spaces — what Ashraf called ‘dark matter’ — make all the difference.
Second, cash for innovators is growing abundant, everywhere. Venture capital funds hold record quantities of uninvested allocated capital. There is “too much cash chasing too few deals,” and investors are trawling the world for exciting opportunities. Where Silicon Valley was once the main destination for big-bet investments in tech, we are now seeing a flood of FOMO-fuelled funding rounds in every major metropolis. Unilever and BMW are building ‘venture arms’ to fuel innovation in their sectors, as high net worth individuals are looking for tech teams in their own backyard. The point is: you don’t have to move to California to bring your idea to life; you can raise big money in Bangalore or Estonia.
The Bay Area will continue to churn out leading-edge tech and high-growth startups, but a new map of the innovation economy is being drawn. Rich communities of talent and ubiquitous funding level the playing field everywhere East of San Francisco. We had a great time discussing these insights experts like Ashraf, and it was fascinating to learn how incumbents like Silicon Valley Bank are responding and thinking more globally.
Great Tech Must be Driven by Ethics and Inclusion
On day 3 of our Trek, we sat down with partners at innovative Venture Capital firms in the Valley. Renata Quintini (whose sincere LinkedIn headline reads: “supporting founders that aim to build a better future without destroying humanity”) summarised her philosophy in a few pithy words:
“When you build a technology company without values and diversity, you are going to have unintended consequences.”
In writing this seems a simple platitude. But there was a palpable sense among the tech leaders and investors on the Trek that their industry causes grave harm. I think it’s worth following up on two pillars raised by Renata: ethics and inclusion. While the words are buzzy, we heard visceral stories about how tech companies without these core principles were causing harm to consumers and their own workers.
(as an aside: I highly recommend reading Renata’s startup Kata, a brief and actionable playbook for building a morally decent tech company)
First, a tech startup without clarity and compunction is bound for disaster. Solving a problem or disrupting an industry is a huge responsibility, and Silicon Valley has exported some problematic tech culture tenets. Facebook’s old mantra ‘move fast and break things’, and the “rule-flouting tech bro intemperance” of organisations like UBER have had disastrous outcomes. When it comes to making the world a better — or worse — place, historian Lynne White Jr. put it nicely: “technology opens doors; it does not compel [one] to enter.” In other words, building great tech which doesn’t destroy humanity starts with morally scrupulous people. We might even have to change the way companies are funded and built. Take for example these four women, who turned frustrating startup experiences into the framework for a zebra company, fundamentally challenging the VC ‘unicorn’ model for growth.
Second, stronger principles of inclusion are essential for serving consumers and creating organisations where any individual can thrive. New investigations continue to reveal the extent of racial and gender-based discrimination in tech firms like UBER. Many tech workplaces are unfulfilling and downright dangerous to anyone who does not fit the mould. These issues touched every conversation during the 4 day Trek experience. In a couch-bound conversation with Jeff Rothschild, former VP of Engineering for FaceBook, a question came up about ‘culture fit’ in hiring. Jeff’s response was cutting and immediate: “culture fit is a euphemism for discrimination.” Jaclyn Nelson, former Googler and now a fintech executive, talked about retooling HR processes and creating a physical space where new mothers could breastfeed during candidate selection and day-to-day office work. Renata (cited above) writes about clear guidelines for gender- and colour-blind performance reviews, as well as enforceable zero tolerance policies for abuse and harassment. I could go on… but the point is: inclusion must go a step further than simply targeting a few diverse hires; it must mean that a broad range of identities can thrive and feel that the workplace was built for them.
I have to give credit to Silicon Valley Bank for convening industry leaders who are working hard to bring more ethics and inclusion into tech. These individuals gave me an impression of genuine change taking place in Silicon Valley. At a time when the shape and substance of innovation is changing, I feel tremendously grateful to be working in this field. Building a technology company today is a chance for entrepreneurs to express moral clarity and conviction, and an opportunity to spend busy hours with people who you may not immediately relate with.
Taking these matters seriously has also helped our team at Boresha to source top talent and do our best work. Currently, our team of 7 represents 5 countries, 4 native languages, and a broad base of life experiences and cultural attitudes. This cognitive diversity is our special sauce, and the only way Boresha can solve a formidable design problem: adaptive software for first-time digital users in rural value chains, where one may find a new language spoken for every 100 kilometers travelled.
My time with the Silicon Valley Bank Trek was a refreshing surprise, as we pondered changes in the ever-growing role of technology in our lives. First, Silicon Valley’s incumbent role as the tech hub is being challenged, as money and well-supported talent become more abundant everywhere. Second, a sincere reckoning with ethics and inclusion is changing recruitment, organisational management, and product design in the next great tech companies.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope these takeaways have been interesting. I am always keen to discuss these and other questions, so get in touch if you think a lot about using technology to make the world work a bit better.
Huge thanks to Courtney, Jake, Priya, and the rest of the team at Silicon Valley Bank for their hard work on making this Trek so revelatory. I must also thank the devoted team at the Oxford Foundry, who have worked wonders to help Boresha (and our peers) to take off! To my fellow Trekkers and all of the generous speakers who shared their time: thanks for the relentlessly good conversations.
A few noteworthy soundbites that didn’t fit into this piece:
“Who you know over time becomes what you know.”
~Morgan Cheatham, Bessemer Venture Partners, while discussing the importance of your social networks in the innovation economy.
“Advertising models do not bear fruit until you reach a critical mass. But people misapply loss-making growth to other models! In all other startups you should grow profitably, with a good product.”
~ Michael Seibel, Y Combinator, on alternatives to the artificial and explosive growth strategies often employed in tech
“People often conflate difficult decisions with unpleasant decisions. Difficult decisions are those for which the best answer is difficult to assess or intuit. But most of the decisions we have to make are unpleasant — the right answer is clear, but the implications are uncomfortable or inconvenient.”
~ Phil Libin, CEO of AllTurtles, co-founder of Evernote, on general life / work advice.
