Silicon Valley Is Over, Says Silicon Valley
During the Akron stop of the bus trip, while the Silicon Valley investors mingled with local officials over a dinner spread of vegan polenta pizza and barbecue sliders, Mr. McKenna, the San Francisco venture capitalist, told me
that he felt a difference in people’s attitudes in cities like these, where the tech industry’s success is still seen as something to celebrate
“It’s so expensive, it’s so congested, and frankly, you also see opportunities in other places.”
Mr. McKenna, who owns a house in Miami in addition to his home in San Francisco, told me
that his travels outside the Bay Area had opened his eyes to a world beyond the tech bubble.
Steve Case, the founder of AOL, has pledged to invest mostly in start-ups outside the Bay Area, saying that “we’ve probably hit peak Silicon Valley.”
But even among those who enjoy living in the Bay Area,
and can afford to do so comfortably, there’s a feeling that success has gone to the tech industry’s head.
When you invest in a San Francisco start-up, “you’re basically paying landlords, Twilio, and Amazon Web Services,” said Ms. Bannister of Founders Fund, referring to the companies
that provide start-ups with messaging services and data hosting.
“Some of the engineers in the Valley have the biggest egos known to humankind,” Mr. Khanna, the
Silicon Valley congressman, said during a round-table discussion with officials in Youngstown.
“I’m a little over San Francisco,” said Patrick McKenna, the founder of High Ridge Venture Partners who was also on the bus tour.