An Open Letter To Randi Zuckerberg: How Could You Do This to Real Entrepreneurs?

Who is voting this to the HN front page and what the hell is wrong with you? I would rather see links to 30 more DCPU-16 simulators than read this tripe. Stop it.

Actually the most shameful thing about the Bravo show is that it refers to Randi Zuckerberg as an "internet entrepreneur."

It’s a Bravo Reality show. Of course they’re going to sex it up. Does anyone really think the “Real Housewives” resemble real housewives? If they taped real developers in their natural habitat, it would just be a timelapse of someone sitting in front of a monitor.

"How on earth can Randi Zuckerberg — who saw the angst over that movie by the people it affected most — sell herself out to Hollywood’s desire to make Silicon Valley look like, as the pilot says, “high school”?"<p>Angst?<p><i>LIFE</i> is like high school. Popularity matters. Schmoozing and getting along with people matters. Achievement matters, but less so than social skills. College is arguably somewhat more a meritocracy, but 'real life' reverts back to being more like high school than college.<p>I don't say that as a bad thing, but I had to do some mental adjustment once I had that realization.

Hyperbole much? She is an entertainment content producer. She is producing entertainment. She is not making a documentary. And only idiots and people looking for a cheap joke really think jersey shore is an actual representation of new jersey... It's more a characterization of long island!

What's next? How about: Get 5-10 early-stage startups with decent ideas, put them in a huge house (or office building with several offices) and film them all as they make progress on their product. YC, but being filmed all the time. Judges consist of Silicon Valley bigwigs (PG, some VCs, etc.). The "winners" get funded at the end. The show's title: Series A.<p>No shirtless club dancing. No dumbasses.<p>I'm not saying this would paint a more accurate picture for viewers, but I'd definitely be interested in watching it. Call me crazy?

Because people are people.<p>Because we are potentially petty, petulant, persistent.<p>Because fame and money motivates us differently.<p>So that puts us at this awkward impasse.<p>Either you, Sarah Lacy, have no clue and can't read people well or know the real story behind all this but decided this is an opportunity to sell yourself.<p>Or Randi Zuckerberg is a sellout as you said.

reposting my comment from that post<p>I find the show distasteful but it is as accurate a portrayal of Silicon Valley as Jersey Shore is of that particular geo/demographic. In a way, this shows you how mainstream Silicon Valley now is - instead of just being portrayed as nerds and VCs, this shows that there exists many, many flavors of people/lifestyle here in the Bay Area.<p>Let's be clear - this is a Bravo show, not a Ken Burns documentary. A realistic portrayal of this place would have a bunch of people staring in front of their text editors all day. Or attending meetings and whiteboarding things. Not exactly riveting television.

Manufactured controversy is a popular marketing tactic, no? If I actually had a problem with something a friend of mine was doing the last thing I'd be doing is writing an open letter about it based on a couple of 30 second promos. Unless, of course, that friend asked you to.

Pendantic, but if it were an “open letter,” shouldn’t it be written in the second person? The body content contains two instances of the word “you,” both directed to the reader; references to RZ are in the third person.

It is interesting that one of the cast members is Dwight Crow, a founder of the YC company carsabi. I imagine being on a show like this could lead to quite a bit of publicity but I wonder if it is worth the distraction and likely unrealistic portrayal.<p><a href="http://sfist.com/2012/04/05/meet_the_cast_of_bravos_new_new_sil.php" rel="nofollow">http://sfist.com/2012/04/05/meet_the_cast_of_bravos_new_new_...</a>

Am I missing something, or did the author of that screed omit telling us the name of the show that she is complaining about?<p>Yes, I realize (after a little research) that the show is called "Silicon Valley" and that the phrase "Silicon Valley" does occur several times in the article, but unless I missed one, those are all references to the actual Valley, not to the name of the show.

If you want a semi-realistic startup reality tv show to watch right now, try TechStars on Bloomberg Tv: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/video/75400336/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bloomberg.com/video/75400336/</a> or Start-Up Junkies: <a href="http://www.hulu.com/start-up-junkies" rel="nofollow">http://www.hulu.com/start-up-junkies</a>