Movers and shakers in SoCal: Public or private?
August 19th, 2008 by Benjamin KuoI’ve noticed something recently in comparing “reality” with what you see on the Internet via blogs, social networking web sites, etc. — which is that the true movers and shakers in Southern California are a lot more private than you might think. While lots of attention is given to those who blog regularly, promote themselves through Facebook/twitter, etc. — most of the folks who make deals happen, control the money and checkbooks, broker relationships, and otherwise would be considered the “movers and shakers” in the technology industry are not present on the Internet world. Those folks might (maybe) be on LinkedIn; are probably not on Facebook (maybe are in many cases deliberately not creating a Facebook account); don’t twitter, or even blog.
The question is: should the movers and shakers in SoCal be more public, or is private better? Is the tech-celebrity driven culture which is growing up in Silicon Valley helping get better deals, improve companies, helping companies to scale and attract customers — or is it a distraction? I don’t know the answer, but I’m intrigued that so many of the folks I believe are behind Southern California’s rise to prominence in creating technology firms are opting more for the private, rather than public exposure.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:21 am
Do you think this a generational issue, an intended strategy, or a byproduct of these people just being more comfortable with direct relationships, rather than speaking to the blogosphere?
August 21st, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I think it’s in some part generational — although I’d also say that the younger (<35 year old) VCs/etc. I know also do not blog, or twitter. In many cases I think it’s some interest in secrecy on what they are thinking/doing (ie, not to give their competitors insight into what they’re doing). But, in many cases it might just be that they are more comfortable in direct relationships rather than broadcasting to the whole world.