Why is it difficult to have another Silicon Valley?
In my current trip to the US (I returned last night only), I got to meet a lot of interesting people – who belong to different sections of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Most of the meetings were casual with another entrepreneur, waiting-to-be-entrepreneur, people who want to join a startup, investors who brainstormed the idea and importance of investment even when you don’t need any, potential and current clients, and friends and family who were generally interested in what is new in the domain we are working on and what is that others are doing.
In the entire trip, the moment that got me thinking the most was during BarCamp, San Francisco which was one of the event that I attended while I was there. As I entered Microsoft building in SFO that happened to be the venue for BarCamp, I noticed a big sign-board which said “Enter the area if you are FREE” (or something like that – I don’t remember the exact words). It didn’t make a lot of sense to me then even though it got me thinking. But soon after I entered the area and interacted with various people in different rooms, things got clear. The rooms were full of people who were either entrepreneurs, worked in startups or just waiting to leave the corporate jobs and become FREE by joining / creating startups.
Even though I didn’t like the sessions in the conference (I have already expressed my dissatisfaction in a previous post), it’s hard to be not impressed with the various people who were present there. There were thinkers / visionaries, entrepreneurs who have been successful in the past ventures, fresh thinkers and executioners, technologists who understand the need of standards and are driving the adoption effort, people who think about users without thinking too much about technology. Not only the people at BarCamp, it’s also those who watch the BarCampers including the investors and heads of M&A divisions of the big companies – that takes the entire thing to the next level. Web 2.0 is probably the most sought after topic in these conferences but there were others like peer to peer (P2P) technology companies (and others) who had a decent audience.
In my perspective – this is what makes Silicon Valley. The availability of venture money is all important and is probably much more accessible in the Bay Area but it’s the positive energy of people in the area that is the real differentiator. Till the time we can replicate the structure, it’s really difficult to have another true Silicon Valley. I love that place – for its energy and for the viral entrepreneurship effect that it has on everybody!
Ashish,
It was nice catching up with you in the valley. Hope your trip was massively successful and exciting. Keep up the great work!
So true Ashish. I think thats what we lack in India most right now, the kind of energy and enthusiasm that flows through the valley is amiss in India. I don’t think there is a dearth of VC money, but we still lack the people that can tranfrom the place like Bangalore into something similar to the valley. And one reason I forsee is the lack of people who have experince, say people with 5-10 years. There are a lot of very smart young guys who have stayed back in India, but the middle management is totally missing and I believe they are really important.
hi Ashish,
Hope the true sillicon valley will come soon to India.
Doing great job .Want to share ur experiences more.
http://www.tie-isbconnect.com/
Ashwani – it was great meeting you too. I am on your LinkedIn list too now.
Vibhanshu – can’t agree more with you.
Madhu – will check that site out sometime.
India Travel Hey can we use some photographs for our India travel portal?
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Regards