The 2020 soothsayers [0] could not have been more wrong. This pandemic has questioned the sustainability of many startups that provide no value to society and have resorted to purely being driven by buzzwords and hype to get investors to continuously throw money at them. The red flag was signalled after the poor tech IPO performances of 2019 and right now, the same companies have taken a critical hit from this pandemic.<p>Maybe when this is all over, we should really go back to looking at companies that are 'financially sustainable' rather than investing in frivolous tech companies that compete in burning up their capital on cloud services owned by some FAAMNG companies. Henceforth, the magnificent FAANMG will sail through this storm unscathed.<p>[0] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21934955" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21934955</a>
Meh the writer isn't gonna get this narrative to stick.<p>Most people's practical experiences right now are that many technologies developed in SV are making it possible for them to survive quarantine. From video chat and other communications, to social media, to delivery platforms, to all sorts of systems that companies are quickly adopting to adapt to the new operating environment around them.<p>I'm all for the critical self-reflection of tech and journalists being hard on leaders. But this in particular is reaching for a story.
Part of a counterpoint: <a href="https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/the-decline-of-the-innovation-state-is-killing-us.html" rel="nofollow">https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/th...</a>
That article is utter trash of a smear piece - it isn't worthy of any word mincing. In contrast to normal advice I would say don't read it - it isn't worth your time. His demands are like grabbing a Med School Dean by the shoulders and shaking them while asking why they don't have a vaccine ready. That isn't their job and is literally demanding the impossible. It betrays a deep ignorance or attempted manipulation of expected ignorance among the audience that Silicon Valley are literal wizards. There are legitimate questions about shifting in industry and what lasting role start ups could play in a post Covid world but this is not that article. There is nothing reasonable to discuss.
There is no "myth of Silicon Valley innovation": SV is only a tiny fraction of innovation in the USA and a very specialized fraction at that.