Sometime around 1999 I remember going to a Dot Com event that was basically an entire movie set rented out and provided to several thousands of tech entrepreneurs.
Ever since then, this insane world of startups has had it’s up and downs but one thing that has always been consistent. The hype.
Gartner puts out this great infographic each year about the hype cycle. It basically says that eventually products and technologies get past the hype and either die or start to become really useful.
There is no doubt that “Silicon Valley” has cranked out some amazing new inventions over the last 24 years.
But much of it is hype. If a business has no chance of making money, it’s not a business. It’s a feature that VCs are paying to be in existence.
Quite a few people predicted this bank would fail – the balance sheet didn’t add up at all.
It’s time to focus on real solutions to hard problems, and enough hype, it only weakens the ecosystem.
Let’s quickly shed anything built on hype and move on to the golden years of technology.
Silicon Valley Bank, Hype and the Plateau of Productivity
