Anti-Establishment
My regular visitors and subscribers have noticed that I’ve been unusually quiet during the new year. There are several good reasons for my lack of posts at WriteTilt.com lately, but the primary reason is simple: I’m a little sick of the “establishment.”
The “establishment” refers to the Silicon Valley blogs, Web 2.0 sites/services, technology companies, and the special little club that surrounds technology startups. For the past year and a half, I consumed myself into this world by reading about them and listening about them on podcasts, only to find that in some ways, it’s a big turnoff for me. In fact, I’ve pulled myself away from this world because I have discovered that I’m against the rules and conventions that are associated with the “establishment.”
I have sat back and watched how young entrepreneurs fall over themselves to lick Michael Arrington’s shoes just so they can be featured in TechCrunch. I just don’t understand why people worship Arrington like he’s a god and take what he says as the gospel truth (according to Michael Arrington). I also don’t get how one man can wield so much power that his blog posts can make or break a company. This is one man’s opinion after all. And while blogs like Valleywag, Mashable, Silicon Alley Insider, All Things Digital, etc. can be entertaining as well as informative, they all (essentially) say the same thing as TechCrunch. I realized how often I found myself deleting posts (without reading them) containing the same information that I’ve already read somewhere else. The main difference between all of those blogs’ writers is that Arrington has far more influence for some reason.
I have watched the Web 2.0 craze grow with bubble-like behavior over the past year. I listen/watch podcasts and read about venture capitalists throwing money at entrepreneurs with ideas who have no clue how to monetize their venture, a sure sign of bubble behavior. The sheer ridiculousness of Microsoft’s $15 billion evaluation of Facebook still has me scratching my head. And while I love Twitter, I don’t see how Evan Williams and crew can monetize the service’s popularity unless they follow Pownce’s plan by offering paid accounts. Where was Williams’ section in the business plan about monetization? Where was Zuckerberg’s? It almost seems like any Tom, Dick, and Harry can come up with an idea and get funded. Is this 1999 all over again? I feel like someone should be doing Startup.com 2.0 or e-Dreams 2.0 documentaries. Oh wait, I forgot. Someone already is.
Most disturbingly about the “establishment” is the lack of diversity. I have heard and learned enough about technology startups to notice that women, old fogies (people over the age of 23), and minorities are practically non-existent in the special little club that is Web 2.0 (in terms of being a founder and being a management/board member). Oh, I’m not saying that these startups don’t hire the people I’ve described. I just wonder why we don’t see more of these people as founders and managers of startups. Do they have to know a secret little handshake to join the club? It almost feels like white males under the age of 23 are in an elite, secret society while everyone else is an outsider when it comes to Web 2.0 startups.
I’m a maverick in life and business and always will be. I’m a rule breaker, and I walk to the beat of my own drum. However, lately, I felt like I was getting sucked deeper into a world that I have issues with as I discover things about the “establishment.” Hey, it happens to the best of us sometimes. Fortunately, I never drunk all of the kool aid; I just took a sip or two. I honestly had to take a step back and swallow the red pill to flush the blue pill that is all things tech out of my system for the past month or so. I have more clarity and vision now, yet I also have a lack of interest in some things happening in technology today. I needed to do that for myself to focus on my own startup - for the things I do and do not want it to be. I needed a break. I needed to think. I needed to get away from the cloud of noise that is all things tech and Web 2.0.
While I’m back, I’m not entirely back in full force with the same drive that you have come to expect from me. I’m working on plans for my startup among other things, which is taking up more of my time right now. Unlike other bloggers, I do not and will not write just for the sake of posting something. Less is more. I will write only if I have something to say, and that may or may not be the same type of content that you’ve come to expect from me. I guess we’ll see what the future of WriteTilt.com holds because even I can’t say what that will be right now.
Stay tuned…