A Gratuitous Bit of Rudeness from Dave Winer
William Grosso @ September 8, 2006
Dave Winer, him what pioneered blogs and RSS and OPML, said this today:
For some reason there’s less startup activity on the east side than on the other side of the bay. Not sure why, but I see this as a chance to bootstrap something more thoughtful and with more longevity. I hope it doesn’t become super-heated and bubbly. And I also hope there’s a streak of doing-good that isn’t part of the Silicon Valley culture.
In order, this is: a good observation (I’ve often wondered why the startup culture is so much stronger on this side of the bay), an attempt to see the bright side (”a chance to bootstrap something”), a bit of a negative moment (”I hope it doesn’t become … bubbly”) and then a gratuitous barb tossed across the bay at those of us in the valley.
I admire what Dave’s accomplished, and I deeply admire his determination and willingness to stick to his guns for long periods of time, but I gotta wonder: what was the point of saying “doing good” isn’t part of Silicon Valley culture?
But it leads to an interesting question. Namely: are people who live in Silicon Valley less interested in doing good than people in other parts of the country? I tend to doubt it — most of my friends here donate time to one (or more) non-profits and I don’t think that’s true of the people I know back in New York. But … maybe Dave has a more representative sample of the Bay Area?
How would we figure that out? Is there some national index of shame, which measures per-capita donations to non-profits by geographic area?
And if it turns out to be true, that Silicon Valley is less interested in doing good than is the norm, how do we fix that?
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I didn’t spend so much time writing that bit that you can read as much into it as you are. Blogging is a bit rough that way.
Anyway, I didn’t mean doing-good the way you’re interpreting it. I mean investing in basic technology as opposed to finding some neat stuff laying around and marketing it. I have written about this many times, and sometimes I just express an idea without explaining all that’s behind it. It’s what happens when you’re busy and also have a lot to say.
In any case, rudeness often is in the eye of the beholder. I did put in over 20 years in Silicon Valley, so I feel *somewhat* entitled to comment on its culture.