ENTREPRENEURSHIP
HBO’s Silicon Valley is the Real Valley
And what you need to know about it
“If you really want to understand how Silicon Valley works today, you should watch the HBO series Silicon Valley.”
-Bill Gates
Forget all the series you have binge-watched. This one is different. Besides being hilarious, it also teaches you a great deal of what goes on in the valley, how people are, and how they treat each other. Many people from the valley admit an uncanny resemblance. CEO of Snapchat described it as “basically a documentary”.
Silicon Valley is a name that is synonymous with the technology industry. Huge companies are there and it all looks so good from outside. Working hard to have an impact on the world, being on the driver’s seat of change… But is that all? HBO series helps us understand more by showing us life-like events through the series.
The producers of the show are doing their homework. Silicon Valley has consulted with over 250 tech insiders. They go and ask people what best represents the valley including Bill Gates, and then write their scenario accordingly. This is the major reason why the show is such a success.
In Silicon Valley, everyone has their part to play. This holds in real life just like in the show. People want to change the world, work day and night, demonstrate ambition as well as determination and face trade-offs while doing so. Richard, the young CEO who is starting his journey could be viewed as the younger version of Gavin, the CEO of Hooli, who is at the peak of his game. Everyone, from the arrogant and egoistic doctor to the guy working at the supermarket is after entrepreneurial success in the show, just like in the real world where people move to with dreams and hopes. It is a different world, where there is one prize and everyone is after it.
As in any situation, some people try to use shortcuts to success by cheating, lying, manipulation while others try to stand right by their moral code and try to be successful. There are no absolute rights and wrongs. This is what makes it so challenging to succeed in the valley.
The show reflects the truth of many. Taken from real life, the examples are there for you to understand the conditions, see what works and what doesn’t, and end up being hilarious at the same time. Below are some of my opinions about the show and how it mirrors examples from real life. Before you move on if you want to watch the series and have not done it yet, be aware of the spoilers. This is where I say, spoiler alert!
Hooli
Hooli represents any big company with near-unlimited sources with the best talent, in the leadership position. It reminded me of Google, Apple, or Microsoft. With its CEO, Gavin Belson, the company is ready to attack other companies to be able to stay in their position of power. Especially in the 90s, Microsoft was known for its aggressive acts to the rivalry, killing them off with the few regulations present at the time. They have been heavily fined for that.
Hooli has many features from Google. Nucleus, which is a subdivision of the company was separated from that of Hooli, just like what happened to Alphabet and Google in 2015. Moreover, the company sometimes does not give an active role to employees, nor do they fire them so it keeps them waiting until the next role not to lose them to rivalry just like Google does. In Hooli, we see a rooftop with employees doing nothing but spending time and drinking beer.
The design of Hooli is very similar to Google offices, where there is unlimited food in the kitchen, bike parks, sleep pods, chill workspace, and no clothing policy. It’s all the same because it was copied from them. Production designer Richard Toyon says he followed Google’s rule of the three “H’s” when constructing the Hooli office set: “Health, hygiene, and hunger.”
Pied Piper
Pied Piper represents any startup that starts in a garage with the vision to set out to “change the world”. HP, Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Amazon, Google all started this way. They managed to grow, reach a wider audience, and influence the way we live today.
They were a middle-out compression company at first. In the real world, there is a Chinese compression startup called Terark that does the same. Like so many startups, Pied Piper eventually pivoted to a different business model — the decentralized internet. It turns out there are real-world startups working on developing the technology, including Anonymouse and MaidSafe. It aims to give users control of their data and privacy. That way, companies could not use it to spy on people or exploit them. Pied Piper is the anti-Facebook. With Richard’s resemblance to Zuckerberg and Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, that is a big contrast.
Pied Piper goes through difficult things as they try to grow. First, their idea gets stolen during their pitch to get funding and they have dealt with that just like many startups in the valley. Then, they got money from an investor, Ross Hanneman, who they don’t seem to share any common ground with. We see the real-life struggles all along with their expansion.
Richard Hendricks
He is a mix of Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates since he is a good coder, who is not comfortable in social situations and shows signs of high anxiety. He represents the hoody generation.
Richard gets fired as CEO of his own company and then returns to the company which reminds me of Steve Jobs. During the show, he had a line “Jobs was a poser. He didn’t even write code.”. So maybe Wozniak could be a better fit. Plus, he does not have the influence of Jobs who is known for his good skills to convince those around him. He wrote the compression algorithm himself just like Woz did with the initial development of the Apple Macintosh.
I would say he resembles Zuckerberg with his looks including his ginger hair and pale skin, but not his way of life. Yes, he testifies in court like the Facebook founder and is a drop out too. However, they belong to opposite sides in their ethical codes. Richard puts ethics first, gives up short-term success for the sake of doing the right thing. He demonstrates that all the way during the show. He is against holding user data and using that for monetary gain. What about Zuckerberg? I didn’t think so too.
He could have some traits with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web. Richard wants to develop Internet 2.0 and just like Berners-Lee, he wanted to make data more open and accessible on the Web.
Gavin Belson
He represents any leader of a successful big company who is charismatic yet egoistic and has an obsessive desire for power or in other words, megalomaniac. Larry Page has been known to share similar traits.
He is into eastern philosophy like Steve Jobs and is known for saying the right things about the good of humanity like Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. He does this especially in the board meetings where he tries to convince the board to justify the ambitious actions he is taking.
He is willing to do anything to win by any means necessary. This could follow any lie Zuckerberg has told people about what Facebook does with data or all the big companies not paying taxes for years. He symbolizes power.
Laurie Bream
She is an investor in a Venture Capital firm called Raviga. She reminds me of Marissa Mayer, who is known for being very analytic, always backing up her claims with data and not involving emotions in decision-making. That being said, she is excellent at what she does. It also represents the real-life where she is one of the few women in a position of power in the valley. The women investors represent between 7% and 8% in Silicon Valley today.
When Laurie gave birth, she continued to work even the same day. Marissa Mayer is also known for not taking absence leaves and even returning to the office two weeks after giving birth. Who can blame her for doing that considering the patriarchal structure present?
Erlich Bachman
He owns the incubator Richard and Pied Piper belongs to. Throughout the show, he shows signs of Steve Jobs. He wears clothes like him including the sandals and the turtleneck, smokes marijuana and demonstrates good influence when convincing others. Plus, he handles business dealings and is a good presenter. Although he really wants to be him, he is nothing like him despite his attempts.
Some people say he shares some traits with Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and former president of Facebook, who has also made large investments in pot legalization. I am not sure if that is enough, but it is a start. He seems to have taken traits from many people from the valley who are over-confident, yet lack the discipline that is necessary for success.
The rules in the valley are shown with the HBO series. As you saw, there are many examples from how big companies operate and where startups stands with regards to them. There are players committed to their role and people are playing their part.
It gives all of us something to think about and question. Is it how it should be?
Thank you for reading. Let me know if you have any comments about what is mentioned.
