Good Read: Is the Startup Boom a Mirage?

We’re in an entrepreneurial age, or so it seems. There are startups everywhere nowadays, thanks to the low cost to starting a company and easy financing that remains for many. There is also a cultural factor. Silicon Valley is no longer a place, but a mindset and an aspiration. It’s a symbol of striking it rich from a great idea. But is it what it seems? Longtime Silicon Valley journalist Tom Foremski senses that all is not right with the current startup boom, pointing out that many “successful” startups never really go anywhere, but instead are acquired by the giants of the Valley for their engineering resources.

Silicon Valley’s dirty little secret is that the startup boom is mostly a disguised jobs fair that directly benefits the big corporations. Occasionally, an innovative startup makes it past this stage but it has to be so bad that no one wants it — not even for its team. It’s from among those ugly ducklings that the swans of the new age emerge: Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and others — no one wanted them at first, then they couldn’t get enough of them.

Read Foremski’s full article on his site, Silicon Valley Watcher. Follow him on Twitter at @tomforemski.

 

More in Media

OpenX hunts new CEO after parting ways with Matt Sattel as chief executive

The ad tech company is switching leaders, ending the current CEO’s five-month term in office.

TV with dollar sign representing balancing multichannel tv advertising to create revenue.

Streaming is the next frontier for Walmart’s, Kroger’s ads businesses

Walmart and other retailers have also recently invested in the ability to integrate their shopping data into video platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

‘A Super Bowl every two days’: Inside Unilever’s 50,000-creator World Cup play

50,000 creators activated globally, massive in-person pop-ups in host cities, and more are all part of Unilever’s World Cup creator push.