The pursuit of power in Silicon Valley's Valueless Society - Reflections by Cher

A year ago, I moved to San Francisco and began my first dabble into tech with the intention of being an observer. Countless dinners, networking events, hikes, parties, friends’ fundraising rounds, and so on later, here’s roughly what I think about Silicon Valley’s culture. Walk into a tech venue and see if someone asks, “Working on anything new?” “What are you building?” “What’s your side hustle?” It’s as if the long-winded pitches or embarrassed smiles that would ensue don’t matter. Under the vulturous eyes in the circle of conversation, the only answer worth prying for is: Are you a startup founder? Is it something I could profit from? From the perspective of an outsider, it was curious how people have built entire identities and communities around “founders and funders.” Over what principles? Driven by what values? Over time, in every Saturday café chatter that turns into a pitch, in every LinkedIn tagline that reads “building something new,” in every AI announcement promising to e

A year ago, I moved to San Francisco and began my first dabble into tech with the intention of being an observer. Countless dinners, networking events, hikes, parties, friends’ fundraising rounds, and so on later, here’s roughly what I think about Silicon Valley’s culture. Walk into a tech venue and see if someone asks, “Working on anything new?” “What are you building?” “What’s your side hustle?” It’s as if the long-winded pitches or embarrassed smiles that would ensue don’t matter. Under the vulturous eyes in the circle of conversation, the only answer worth prying for is: Are you a startup