1
00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,520
Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech stuff from how

2
00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:14,360
Speaker 1: stuff dot com by their kids, and welcome to tech stuff.

3
00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:16,079
Speaker 1: My name is Chris Poulette, and I am an editor

4
00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,560
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. But you may have

5
00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,120
Speaker 1: known that already sitting across me, as usual is senior

6
00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,080
Speaker 1: writer Jonathan Stricklin. Hey there, you might have also known

7
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 1: that already. So, um, Chris, tell me if you recognize

8
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,559
Speaker 1: this quote. Okay, Jonathan, you may not. You may not.

9
00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,599
Speaker 1: It's a it's it's it's one that I've seen bandied

10
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,480
Speaker 1: about a bit since uh we started talking about this topic.

11
00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:44,080
Speaker 1: But endy inventions reach their limit long ago, and I

12
00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:49,760
Speaker 1: see no hope for further development. Um. It is not

13
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 1: the patent office, which is the other famous one. Yeah.

14
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,680
Speaker 1: That that is a funny, funny quote. This is Julius

15
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:03,400
Speaker 1: Frontinus of the first century a d. A Roman engineer

16
00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,959
Speaker 1: who worked in the water. Uh the management essentially back

17
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,200
Speaker 1: in the back in the day, which was a Thursday.

18
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:17,679
Speaker 1: Um he uh sorry, I almost a he uh so Yeah,

19
00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,520
Speaker 1: he said back then like inventions had to reach their limit,

20
00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:23,240
Speaker 1: and then that's it. We are. We have gone about

21
00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,840
Speaker 1: as fur as we could go. As people in Oklahoma

22
00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,440
Speaker 1: would say, and I'm talking about Oklahoma, the musical, not

23
00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:35,840
Speaker 1: the state. But it's okay. Uh the he Yeah, he

24
00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,160
Speaker 1: said that that they, we humans had reached the peak

25
00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,800
Speaker 1: of ingenuity. He's not the first person to say that.

26
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,120
Speaker 1: He's not the last person to say that. Another very

27
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:49,200
Speaker 1: famous quote that's been bandied about recently, again more bandying,

28
00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,560
Speaker 1: was from Charles H. Dwell, who was the Commissioner of

29
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,080
Speaker 1: the U. S Office of Patents in eight so just

30
00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:02,080
Speaker 1: before the turn of the century. He said famously, everything

31
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,800
Speaker 1: that can be invented has been invented. Yeah, he submitted.

32
00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,000
Speaker 1: That was in his resignation. Yeah, I'm resigning his head

33
00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,359
Speaker 1: of the Patent Office because it's all it's all been done. Yeah,

34
00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,639
Speaker 1: we're done. Yeah, it's just a barnicked lady song. Now

35
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,200
Speaker 1: we're done. And like to hand him. I don't know, Um,

36
00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 1: let's let's think of something obsolete already, like uh, you know,

37
00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:27,160
Speaker 1: eight track tapes, right, and take a look at this

38
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,160
Speaker 1: and this this is something that this is something we

39
00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,800
Speaker 1: don't use anymore. Um unless here you can have it,

40
00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,079
Speaker 1: unless you're in my dad's car. So yeah, they I'm

41
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,600
Speaker 1: just kidding, just kidding. Yeah, that player hasn't worked for years. So, yeah,

42
00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:47,040
Speaker 1: the two quotes of people famously saying that we have

43
00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,800
Speaker 1: reached the level of of ingenuity that we are capable

44
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,920
Speaker 1: of reaching, and nothing beyond that is within our grasp

45
00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,160
Speaker 1: and we should just settle down and and make ourselves

46
00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,560
Speaker 1: at home. The reason why I bring those up is

47
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,639
Speaker 1: because the topic we're talking about today is the whole

48
00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:05,959
Speaker 1: reason we're talking about is because of a discussion that

49
00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:11,760
Speaker 1: happened online on Facebook, of all places, on Facebook, on Facebook,

50
00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 1: and it was started by a guy named David Sachs

51
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,959
Speaker 1: who was a founder of Yammer Yammer. Uh is this

52
00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,520
Speaker 1: Uh it's an enterprise social network, so social network meant

53
00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,880
Speaker 1: for businesses and here a popular business social network. He

54
00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,200
Speaker 1: founded it and then sold it in June of two

55
00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,480
Speaker 1: thousand and twelve to Microsoft for one point to billion

56
00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,400
Speaker 1: with a B dollars. It's a princely some princely some. Indeed,

57
00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:46,960
Speaker 1: you could buy a lot of pie with that princely

58
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:54,720
Speaker 1: some pie. And uh so, yeah, he created this company,

59
00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,520
Speaker 1: sold it off to Microsoft. Well, the reason why we're

60
00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,280
Speaker 1: talking about this is on Facebook he posted and I'm

61
00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,320
Speaker 1: gonna read the full quote. I think Silicon Valley as

62
00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,960
Speaker 1: we know it may be coming to an end. In

63
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,680
Speaker 1: order to create a successful new company, you have to

64
00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 1: find an idea that one has escaped the attention of

65
00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,680
Speaker 1: the major Internet companies, which are better run than ever before.

66
00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,440
Speaker 1: Two is capable of being launched and proven out for

67
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:24,159
Speaker 1: around five million dollars the typical seed plus Series A investment,

68
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,920
Speaker 1: and three is protectable from the onslaught of those big

69
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,920
Speaker 1: companies once they figure out what you're onto. How many

70
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:35,039
Speaker 1: ideas like that are left? So he's essentially saying the

71
00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:40,960
Speaker 1: environment that we now all live in is not conducive

72
00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 1: to a small, nimble startup coming out and challenging these

73
00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,760
Speaker 1: big goliath companies that are in the text space. Um

74
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,360
Speaker 1: and so saying that it's it's getting increasingly difficult, if

75
00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:59,960
Speaker 1: not impossible, to make a successful company. However, his question

76
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,680
Speaker 1: and how many ideas like that are left? How many?

77
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,760
Speaker 1: How many people can come up with an idea that's effective,

78
00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,880
Speaker 1: that is going to capture people's imaginations to get support

79
00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,440
Speaker 1: and it has not already been thought of by one

80
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,720
Speaker 1: of these big companies. Uh Well, a fellow by the

81
00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:22,040
Speaker 1: name of Mark and Reason answered that question and said, yeah,

82
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,640
Speaker 1: I know that name. Yeah, I'm sure it an escaped you. Um,

83
00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,440
Speaker 1: he's so, and reason said an infinite number human creativity

84
00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,600
Speaker 1: is limitless, which doesn't make it easy, but does mean

85
00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,080
Speaker 1: the opportunity is an ending. So andreeson saying you can't

86
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,440
Speaker 1: put a cap on human ingenuity. Every time we've done that,

87
00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,960
Speaker 1: people have proven that it was a premature statement and

88
00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,120
Speaker 1: that there are always going to be people out there

89
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,320
Speaker 1: who come up with these great ideas and uh, and

90
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:58,120
Speaker 1: to say otherwise is not really being honest with yourself. Uh.

91
00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,800
Speaker 1: And then there became this big dicussion through lots with

92
00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:06,440
Speaker 1: lots and lots of people, Andresa bombarded the Facebook page

93
00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,960
Speaker 1: with about seven or eight comments in a row where

94
00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,599
Speaker 1: he was making his points and refuting the points that

95
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,000
Speaker 1: sax had made, and it became a discussion between the two.

96
00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:21,200
Speaker 1: So today we wanted to talk about Silicon Valley. Are

97
00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,560
Speaker 1: it's days numbered? Does it even make sense to refer

98
00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,680
Speaker 1: to the industry in general as Silicon Valley now? Um?

99
00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:34,760
Speaker 1: And and maybe or are we all just arguing over semantics?

100
00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,680
Speaker 1: Could we just agree that Silicon Valley kind of encapsulates

101
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,440
Speaker 1: the idea of the tech industry and it doesn't really

102
00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,200
Speaker 1: refer to a geographic region anymore. And once we get

103
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:51,919
Speaker 1: past that is everything cool. Well yeah, so let I

104
00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,560
Speaker 1: guess first we need to talk about what Silicon Valley is.

105
00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:59,719
Speaker 1: It's it's a place, so it's Silicon Valley refers to

106
00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,280
Speaker 1: a region in California where a lot of tech companies

107
00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:07,839
Speaker 1: first got their start, big big name tech companies. Yeah,

108
00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:12,520
Speaker 1: yeah there. Uh, as it turns out, there's a university

109
00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:16,040
Speaker 1: out there called Stanford. Yeah. A lot of a lot

110
00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,840
Speaker 1: of smarty pants were there in Stanford. Yeah, we've we've

111
00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,400
Speaker 1: mentioned that many, many, many many times. Uh, just simply

112
00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,640
Speaker 1: because uh, it's it's one of the places where technology

113
00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:31,040
Speaker 1: folks um ended up going to school in the first place.

114
00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,760
Speaker 1: And then um, they didn't really go far physically to

115
00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,600
Speaker 1: start their companies. They went you know, I like it here.

116
00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:43,080
Speaker 1: So yeah, apart from the earth place that's not really

117
00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:48,360
Speaker 1: whether um not here. The geologic formation is nice apart

118
00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:50,880
Speaker 1: from the earthquakes. Um, but yeah, I mean it's a

119
00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:52,920
Speaker 1: it's a nice place to be around a lot of

120
00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,840
Speaker 1: other smart people, and um, you know, even people who

121
00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:02,120
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily go to Stanford, Uh, like Cooper Tino. You know,

122
00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,840
Speaker 1: they're garages, right, there are a lot of garages out there. Actually,

123
00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:07,800
Speaker 1: that that's something we should talk about, is that, you know,

124
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,520
Speaker 1: it is something of a trope to talk about Silicon

125
00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,000
Speaker 1: Valley and getting your start in a garage, but several

126
00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,360
Speaker 1: of them actually did. If you've been listening to tech

127
00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:17,200
Speaker 1: stuff or any like the time, you've actually heard us

128
00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,000
Speaker 1: talk about some of these HP started in a garage.

129
00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,360
Speaker 1: Google started in a garage. Apple started in a garage.

130
00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:29,280
Speaker 1: Origin Systems, Origin Games, I should say Origin Games started

131
00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:31,680
Speaker 1: in a garage Richard Garriad. Of course that was not

132
00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:36,040
Speaker 1: in California, that was in Texas. But the garage thing, Yeah,

133
00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,920
Speaker 1: the garage thing was this, you know, this idea that

134
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:43,120
Speaker 1: there was a time and perhaps that time is now over,

135
00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,800
Speaker 1: but there was a time where and enterprising and innovative

136
00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,600
Speaker 1: person or group of people could get together in a

137
00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:57,520
Speaker 1: space like a garage, build a a concept, turn it

138
00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,120
Speaker 1: into reality, and make a viable business out of it.

139
00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,040
Speaker 1: Not just a viable business, but potentially an empire. I mean,

140
00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:06,640
Speaker 1: it's hard to describe Google as anything other than an

141
00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:08,960
Speaker 1: empire at this point, at least as far as you know,

142
00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:12,800
Speaker 1: Web advertising goes and and Internet search as well, and

143
00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,880
Speaker 1: and making big roads into things like smartphone adoption and

144
00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:21,240
Speaker 1: and other areas of technology. Uh that all started in

145
00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:25,280
Speaker 1: you know, building a few servers in a person's garage,

146
00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,440
Speaker 1: and then it took off from there. Yeah, and that

147
00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:31,400
Speaker 1: isn't that isn't really too um to put down the

148
00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,079
Speaker 1: rest of the technology world, of course, Um, they're famous.

149
00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:40,839
Speaker 1: Other areas where lots of tech companies have gathered, of course,

150
00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,440
Speaker 1: Uh the Seattle area in Washington where Microsoft and and

151
00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:51,280
Speaker 1: Nintendo famously have headquarters. Places in Texas around Austin and Dallas,

152
00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,680
Speaker 1: you know, t I and and Dell and all those

153
00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:57,040
Speaker 1: guys are down there. Uh you know there. There's lots

154
00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:00,800
Speaker 1: of tech innovation going on in other places, uh around

155
00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,000
Speaker 1: m I T in Massachusetts and Harvard they're together, um

156
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,040
Speaker 1: places down here in Atlanta where Georgia Tech is the

157
00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:10,040
Speaker 1: Georgia Institute of Technology. So and other other countries in

158
00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:12,880
Speaker 1: the world too. I mean there are company examples in

159
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,439
Speaker 1: Japan and in Germany and and really any country you

160
00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,439
Speaker 1: can you can almost all of the countries have some

161
00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,559
Speaker 1: sort of tech presence. Not all of them all, obviously,

162
00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,640
Speaker 1: but many of them do. Israel has a strong tech community,

163
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,319
Speaker 1: so that it's it's not that that Silicon Valley is

164
00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,240
Speaker 1: the be all and end all, it is not the

165
00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:34,440
Speaker 1: Omega and the alpha or the alpha and the omega. Right. However,

166
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,440
Speaker 1: it did have uh a nifty name. Somebody decided to

167
00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,920
Speaker 1: call it Silicon Valley because in the valley right there,

168
00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,680
Speaker 1: there are lots of tech companies, and I think that

169
00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:49,200
Speaker 1: at frankly it's it's inadvertently a marketing thing. So we

170
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,600
Speaker 1: we think of tech coming from Silicon Valley. So if

171
00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:56,959
Speaker 1: you think of it as Silicon Valley, the region, uh,

172
00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:59,960
Speaker 1: the actual region, you could you could argue that, yeah,

173
00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:04,080
Speaker 1: the era of Silicon Valley, like new companies coming out

174
00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:10,040
Speaker 1: of Silicon Valley is if not over, uh slowed to

175
00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:14,960
Speaker 1: a crawl because you've got so many established companies there already.

176
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,160
Speaker 1: And frankly, something as practical as the amount of money

177
00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,640
Speaker 1: it would take to rent a garage has increased to

178
00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:25,959
Speaker 1: the point where it is prohibitively expensive for a new

179
00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:29,640
Speaker 1: company that doesn't have any money. So if you, if

180
00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,520
Speaker 1: you permit me an analogy, sure, um, it sort of

181
00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,000
Speaker 1: reminds me of a a want a an up and

182
00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:41,199
Speaker 1: coming actor moving to Los Angeles or New York City.

183
00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,959
Speaker 1: I was going to say, to break into movies or TV,

184
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,200
Speaker 1: um to New York City or Broadway at your you

185
00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:49,959
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna go up there and I'm gonna

186
00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,280
Speaker 1: get a job if I can make it there, and

187
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,880
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, you know, stake out a famous director's house,

188
00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,880
Speaker 1: or I'm gonna be on the corner half a because

189
00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,160
Speaker 1: I know so and so was discovered there really um

190
00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:06,680
Speaker 1: and you know, Okay, So I'm going to move to

191
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,559
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley and I'm gonna start a brand new tech

192
00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:13,360
Speaker 1: company with this idea I've got, and doesn't it doesn't

193
00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,920
Speaker 1: always work like that, yea. So if we if we

194
00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,800
Speaker 1: think of Silicon Valley as like that, that physical place,

195
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,760
Speaker 1: then I guess you could argue maybe that, yeah, maybe

196
00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:25,800
Speaker 1: maybe that era is over. But if you look you

197
00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:28,679
Speaker 1: at Silicon Valley more as a general term for the

198
00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:34,520
Speaker 1: technology industry and the idea of small, nimble companies starting

199
00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,160
Speaker 1: up and really making a go at it and and

200
00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:41,240
Speaker 1: becoming these big companies later on, like like the Google's

201
00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,200
Speaker 1: and the Amazons and the Apples out there and the

202
00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:47,920
Speaker 1: hps UM. I think it might be a little premature

203
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,280
Speaker 1: to call that now, To be fair to Sacks, he

204
00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:56,360
Speaker 1: did later go and and elaborate upon his point. Because

205
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,320
Speaker 1: this was a Facebook status that he posted, and it

206
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,400
Speaker 1: wasn't It was in an article for a magazine or

207
00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,560
Speaker 1: newspaper um and I think it was more of a

208
00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,439
Speaker 1: thing he was mulling over in his head, and maybe

209
00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:10,960
Speaker 1: we should also be fair, all right, So let's let's

210
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,800
Speaker 1: think about this for a second. His company had just

211
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,840
Speaker 1: earlier than in the summer, been bought by Microsoft, right,

212
00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:22,120
Speaker 1: so he had the experience of building a company up

213
00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:26,719
Speaker 1: and seeing him seeing that company go up against some

214
00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:32,800
Speaker 1: really established, big companies, and he saw that the the

215
00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:37,360
Speaker 1: opportunities for his company to succeed on its own were limited,

216
00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,520
Speaker 1: and that it was going to be a very difficult

217
00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:44,920
Speaker 1: road if he chose to keep his company his own

218
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:47,960
Speaker 1: and not to sell to anyone, it would be really

219
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,440
Speaker 1: hard to make a success story out of it because

220
00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:55,160
Speaker 1: of the competition he faced against these monolithic companies. And

221
00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,120
Speaker 1: he has a point. If you come up with an

222
00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 1: idea that's really really uh innovative and is uh is popular,

223
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:05,400
Speaker 1: that it's only a matter of time before one of

224
00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,640
Speaker 1: these other big companies makes a go at that same space.

225
00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,000
Speaker 1: You know, they might not be copying your idea, you

226
00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,880
Speaker 1: know exactly, but they may be aiming for the same

227
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,440
Speaker 1: general target that you're aiming for, and then they these

228
00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:22,080
Speaker 1: companies have way more resources than you do, so it

229
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,280
Speaker 1: may just be a matter of time before they end up,

230
00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:30,680
Speaker 1: you know, wiping you out. And so his point is saying, uh, yeah,

231
00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:33,760
Speaker 1: you don't, you know, look at my experience, like I

232
00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:37,200
Speaker 1: I sold to Microsoft. So there's some critics who have

233
00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,880
Speaker 1: said that he he's taking too narrow a view because

234
00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,480
Speaker 1: of his own personal experience with this situation. And in fact,

235
00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:47,920
Speaker 1: I would argue that there are success stories, relative success

236
00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,720
Speaker 1: stories out there that contradict what he said. Uh, in

237
00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,760
Speaker 1: the sense of think about Twitter. Twitter is the the

238
00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:02,840
Speaker 1: short messaging version of social networks that is popular. Well

239
00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:04,880
Speaker 1: it's not the only one that was out there, and

240
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:07,560
Speaker 1: and some of them were backed by big companies. Google

241
00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,920
Speaker 1: had Jaiku, which was very similar to Twitter. Yeah, they

242
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,880
Speaker 1: acquired Jaiku. They bought Jaiku and you but you there

243
00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,160
Speaker 1: you go, You've got Jaiku that was again a smaller

244
00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,880
Speaker 1: competitor first and then bought by Google. They suddenly had

245
00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,320
Speaker 1: the the power of Google behind them. But that that

246
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,280
Speaker 1: went away. Twitter became the place everyone went to. So

247
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,200
Speaker 1: you know, it is possible, I think, for a company

248
00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:37,800
Speaker 1: to do this because if they do it well. There's

249
00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:39,720
Speaker 1: no guarantee that a giant company is going to do

250
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:41,000
Speaker 1: it well. They might be able to throw a lot

251
00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,720
Speaker 1: of money in it, but doesn't mean that their product

252
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,640
Speaker 1: is going to be compelling enough to convince people to

253
00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:52,240
Speaker 1: use it versus some startups company uh startup product. Well, yeah,

254
00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,440
Speaker 1: I mean, why bother starting something like Facebook when you've

255
00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,480
Speaker 1: already got friends too? Yeah? Yeah, I mean that those

256
00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,680
Speaker 1: are good arguments though. I mean, granted, Facebook's at a

257
00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:05,520
Speaker 1: level that Frinster never was. But but the point but

258
00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:10,240
Speaker 1: my Space, my Space was was dominating for the longest time,

259
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,720
Speaker 1: and people couldn't even imagine someone dethroning my Space from

260
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,240
Speaker 1: the social uh network scene. And then Facebook did it

261
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:24,280
Speaker 1: and handily as it turns out. So the I can

262
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,600
Speaker 1: see what what Sacks's point is here. I don't entirely

263
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,120
Speaker 1: agree with it. Now. He did come out and say

264
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:36,040
Speaker 1: later that he wanted to clarify he thought that if

265
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,360
Speaker 1: if you were to create a startup, you should aim

266
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:42,840
Speaker 1: for the fringe of what is already out there because

267
00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,000
Speaker 1: the big companies he he likened those two redwood trees.

268
00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,720
Speaker 1: He's enormous redwoods, right, Yeah, it does. There might be

269
00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,480
Speaker 1: especially since he was his company was bought by Microsoft, right,

270
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:59,200
Speaker 1: so he yeah, but close enough. Um, he's got these

271
00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:03,880
Speaker 1: giant so these giant redwood trees that are casting lots

272
00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,080
Speaker 1: of shade on the ground. So to plant a startup

273
00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:09,840
Speaker 1: in the shade, you don't have a lot of chance

274
00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:12,399
Speaker 1: of having it grow. It's not gonna get the sunlight

275
00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,439
Speaker 1: it needs. So he says the better thing to do

276
00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:17,320
Speaker 1: is go to the edge of the forest and plant

277
00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:19,440
Speaker 1: your start up there. And what he means by that is,

278
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,600
Speaker 1: don't look to provide a service that one of these

279
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:29,359
Speaker 1: giant companies already is providing. So we'll use maps as

280
00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:31,720
Speaker 1: an example. Let's say that there's a startup where they

281
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:37,159
Speaker 1: feel like we've got the killer approach to providing online maps.

282
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,800
Speaker 1: Problem is, you've already got companies that are doing that.

283
00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:42,960
Speaker 1: You've got Apple and you've got Google, both doing it

284
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,120
Speaker 1: in the mobile space and on desktops. So what and

285
00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:49,120
Speaker 1: and there are others as well. Those aren't the only two.

286
00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:51,280
Speaker 1: It's just those are two I just grabbed right at

287
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:57,359
Speaker 1: the top. So the barrier you have is huge. But

288
00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:59,440
Speaker 1: but if you come up with a service that none

289
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,480
Speaker 1: of these come these are doing yet none of them

290
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,359
Speaker 1: have figured out how to do or they none of

291
00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:08,480
Speaker 1: them have even thought of doing this particular thing. And

292
00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:10,399
Speaker 1: you start a company, then you have a much greater

293
00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,520
Speaker 1: chance of success. Um. And I think a lot of

294
00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,679
Speaker 1: the people who are initially criticized Sax's point, which again

295
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,159
Speaker 1: you know was probably the first thing he had thought of,

296
00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:26,439
Speaker 1: he hadn't made necessarily, really debated it heavily by the

297
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:28,880
Speaker 1: time he posted on Facebook. Um, I think they would

298
00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,200
Speaker 1: agree with that. I think Andreason would agree with that

299
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:36,159
Speaker 1: because and Reason's point is that, Yeah, for for a

300
00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,520
Speaker 1: large company to go up against a small company, uh,

301
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:43,960
Speaker 1: it needs to not just be big, but competent. And

302
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,000
Speaker 1: that's a that's a big point because these like I said,

303
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,120
Speaker 1: these big companies might be able to do certain things

304
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,879
Speaker 1: really well, but when it comes to adopting something new,

305
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,560
Speaker 1: that's hard for a big company to do, and they

306
00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,879
Speaker 1: may not be as agile exactly and making changes no

307
00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:05,040
Speaker 1: pun intended well. And that that's a natural evolution for

308
00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,440
Speaker 1: most companies. Right when when you're a startup, your nimble,

309
00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,400
Speaker 1: you can try lots of things and you are, uh,

310
00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:13,760
Speaker 1: you're very quick to act on those things and to

311
00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,560
Speaker 1: build your business that way, and you take lots of risks.

312
00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,000
Speaker 1: Once you get established, well, then you're looking at stability.

313
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,600
Speaker 1: You're not necessarily looking to continue taking these crazy risks

314
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,640
Speaker 1: because you've got a lot more at stake now. So

315
00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,280
Speaker 1: you're looking at how do I sustain what I have

316
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:33,400
Speaker 1: and build on it without going crazy and running all

317
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,120
Speaker 1: over the place like I did when I was when

318
00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:39,320
Speaker 1: the company was tiny. And so you know, they don't

319
00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:42,879
Speaker 1: have that luxury that the smaller companies have. And so

320
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:44,480
Speaker 1: they may have the money, and they may have a

321
00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,320
Speaker 1: lot of resources, but they might not have the um

322
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,760
Speaker 1: the flexibility to do that. So and that's a good

323
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,439
Speaker 1: point as well. Yeah, I was. I was hardened to

324
00:19:55,560 --> 00:20:00,800
Speaker 1: see that the conversation that they were having was civil

325
00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:05,520
Speaker 1: and productive, you know, unlike some I mean, it was

326
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:07,679
Speaker 1: primarily the two of them. They did. They did make

327
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:09,960
Speaker 1: it public. Know, there were there were lots and lots

328
00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,919
Speaker 1: of comments. It was a really good discussion. Was not

329
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:19,000
Speaker 1: a YouTube, which was nice, no, no, um. But you know,

330
00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:21,200
Speaker 1: I was also reading this is one of the reasons

331
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 1: I was interested in looking at this, UM was I

332
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 1: was reading recently that about some of the other areas

333
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:33,040
Speaker 1: in the world that uh, you might not necessarily think

334
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:38,119
Speaker 1: of as being UH tech stars are sort of coming on,

335
00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:40,640
Speaker 1: you know, making a name for themselves in the tech

336
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:45,879
Speaker 1: world to UM. Apparently, UH Mexico actually has quite a

337
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:50,760
Speaker 1: few tech startups UM that have been launching recently. UM,

338
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,040
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of American investment. UH. You know,

339
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:57,359
Speaker 1: you'd think of the venture capitalists out in Silicon Valley

340
00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:02,200
Speaker 1: and other places looking for startups here, but they also

341
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,280
Speaker 1: look abroad and they have been taking notice of a

342
00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,960
Speaker 1: lot of the places in Mexico and also in UM

343
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 1: UH places like Chile, UM where there are venture capital

344
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:18,080
Speaker 1: funds and in some cases UM like for example, a

345
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:22,840
Speaker 1: startup Weekend UM, which is a founded or you know,

346
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,000
Speaker 1: gets its money from the Coffin Foundation now has UH

347
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,080
Speaker 1: thirteen chapters in Mexico and that second only to the

348
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,720
Speaker 1: United States. UM and UH there are other governments around

349
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:38,840
Speaker 1: the world that are are encouraging UH tech innovation. So

350
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,240
Speaker 1: it is very possible that UM, in addition to our

351
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 1: own literal Silicon Valley, there will be others like it

352
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,240
Speaker 1: UM in other countries all over the world. UM, and

353
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:53,920
Speaker 1: there will be innovations coming UM for those markets specifically,

354
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:58,000
Speaker 1: and things that that you know may become global sensations

355
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: in their own right in the years to come. And

356
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 1: so it's funny because well, uh, he's looking at you know,

357
00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,960
Speaker 1: we're talking about the possibility of um silicon valley here

358
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 1: in the United States sort of waning in its ability

359
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:18,000
Speaker 1: to generate new products, UM other places uh that maybe

360
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,280
Speaker 1: you know are on the edge of the forest in

361
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: that in that analogy, you know, might be taking off. Yeah,

362
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:30,399
Speaker 1: And I read an article on inc I n C

363
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,359
Speaker 1: Business magazine written by Eric Sherman which was titled and

364
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,679
Speaker 1: into Silicon Valley not even close. And Sherman also was

365
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,639
Speaker 1: obviously refuting Sex's points, but there was one thing that

366
00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:49,680
Speaker 1: he said that I don't think was I don't think

367
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,760
Speaker 1: that was sex. He's refuting something that I don't think

368
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:56,360
Speaker 1: Sex was establishing. And his statement was about how, uh

369
00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,159
Speaker 1: the idea about protecting your idea from big companies. And

370
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,440
Speaker 1: one of the problems is that that a small business

371
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 1: might find itself in is running into patent issues where

372
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,600
Speaker 1: big companies own thousands and thousands of patents and it

373
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,360
Speaker 1: may be that some aspect of that small companies business

374
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:17,719
Speaker 1: model could infringe upon a patent, and then where did

375
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 1: they go if they can't license it, then they're out

376
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:25,520
Speaker 1: of luck. So um, But Sherman says that the big

377
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 1: companies often buy these smaller companies, Like, how how can

378
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,800
Speaker 1: you say that these aren't viable, because, like you were

379
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,439
Speaker 1: saying with with Jaiku, Google bought them, and you know,

380
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,879
Speaker 1: Google bought the company that designed Android and all that

381
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,680
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But I think Sax's point was that

382
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,800
Speaker 1: he was talking about the company being successful as its

383
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:48,120
Speaker 1: own entity, not as something that gets bought by another company.

384
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,879
Speaker 1: And so that that's one point that Sherman makes that

385
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: I don't think addresses what Sex was actually saying. Um.

386
00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:01,399
Speaker 1: I think you know, it's it's access. Idea of success

387
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,640
Speaker 1: means that you are making it based upon the the

388
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,480
Speaker 1: viability of your company and how it can compete in

389
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: the market, not whether or not you're attractive enough to

390
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,359
Speaker 1: get bought. But I think we will definitely sometime in

391
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,159
Speaker 1: the future have to have an episode about companies that

392
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:24,440
Speaker 1: were designed or seemingly designed from the ground up specifically

393
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,560
Speaker 1: so they would be purchased by another company. Yeah. Yeah,

394
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,399
Speaker 1: and there have been many of those. Yeah, or at

395
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:33,960
Speaker 1: least that's what it appears to be, you know, because

396
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,560
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard to tell and Sometimes you see a

397
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 1: company that gets brought up by another company and you're thinking,

398
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:41,919
Speaker 1: was that their plan the whole time? Uh? And then

399
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 1: there's some companies that you would think, well, if that

400
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,359
Speaker 1: was their plan, why haven't they done it yet? Twitter?

401
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,200
Speaker 1: Twitter is the one I always think about, because, you know,

402
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,920
Speaker 1: the whole revenue question for Twitter has been a big

403
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 1: issue since it launched, and everyone, I think expected someone

404
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,119
Speaker 1: else to weep in and buy Twitter. But at this

405
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 1: point it might just be too big to be bought,

406
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,880
Speaker 1: at least not for any for anything less than an

407
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 1: astronomical sum of money. I was gonna say, if Yahoo's

408
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 1: not too big to buy? Yeah, well yeah, right? Were

409
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:20,879
Speaker 1: we already talked about you who extensively so that we

410
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: don't need to go back to that that one? All right? Well,

411
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 1: I think that's a good discussion. I think, I think

412
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 1: I think Chris and I both agreed that Silicon Valley,

413
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:31,920
Speaker 1: at least as far as the idea of the startup

414
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: tech industry version of Silicon Valley, is not dead. It's

415
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:42,680
Speaker 1: definitely more challenging. Yeah, it's more challenging to get a

416
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,400
Speaker 1: company off the ground and make it successful and and

417
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:50,160
Speaker 1: keep it going without too much interference from the big companies.

418
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,680
Speaker 1: It's definitely harder, but it's not impossible. And it all

419
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,919
Speaker 1: depends on your idea and the execution of it, and

420
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 1: and that you know, the fact that you have good

421
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 1: business sense as well as a good you know, just

422
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 1: a good product. It's a tough combo to get. Not

423
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: everyone can manage it um, but I think it's still attainable.

424
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 1: So guys, if you have any topic suggestions for things

425
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 1: that we should talk about on this show, you should

426
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,360
Speaker 1: email us our addresses tech stuff at Discovery dot com

427
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: or drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter, or

428
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 1: handle it both of those locations. Is tech Stuff, H. S.

429
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,040
Speaker 1: W and Chris and I will talk to you again

430
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: Releason for more on this and thousands of other topics

431
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 1: because it how staff works. Dot com