Strip Mining the Valley

If you just read the popular tech press this week you’d have been bombarded with sensational tales of flush founders in Ferraris and others bringing parody to life with extravagant networking events hosted under the lights of the major leagues. The press loves the stories of techie playboys, straight out of central casting, living fast and loose aboard the crazy train to Disruption town.

I’m sure those caricatures exist, but that’s not the valley that I know.

In the summer 2010 my family and I moved to the the San Francisco bay area. After a couple years it became clear the place wasn’t for us and we decided to move home.

That said, in those two years I met all kinds of people who’d moved to the valley to make their mark. Some were definitely entitled techies.

But, the vast majority of the people I met were incredibly creative, driven and full of hope for the kind of impact they could have on the world. Rather than living lavishly, many were barely getting by trying to live and raise families in an area of the world they loved. The sacrifices, they told themselves, were a small tax on living among like minded people committed to the emerging technologies and ideals they shared.

I’ve been back in Utah now almost 3 years, so maybe that’s changed. But I visit the area multiple times a month and still find the vast majority of the people I get to spend time with are not just there to strip mine the valley. 

Click baiters gonna bait, but there’s far more to the valley than their sensationalized headlines would suggest.