If you want to know what Evan Williams, Biz Stone, And Obvious Corp. is please check out some of these blogs/posts: Evan Williams' personal blog EVhead, the birth of Evan Williams' new company (new owner of Odeo) Obvious Corp. Birth of Obvious Corp., blog Billions With Zero, Obvious Success by Josh Kopelman, and The Parallel Entrepreneur by Fred Wilson.
This post is about the disruptive influences of generational discord. We are witnessing a massive rupture in the prima fasciae of the sometimes tumultuous, yet, symbiotic relationships between VCs and the Geeks & Hackers who immaculately conceive important Startups.
The need for some ideological and operational reforms have been eloquently articulated by many thoughtful and existential VCs.
This blog was born due to my desire to join the activist call for reform. But my call for reform is a plea to both sides of the aisle. Everyone keeps saying that VC is broken, but honestly, What about Entrepreneurs? What of their expectations and their capacities to understand the nature of VC and the need for mutual recalibration? How are Startups communicating their needs to VCs? Are VCs ready to really hear the truth? {Full Disclosure: I’m birthing a Startup, I’m an angel investor, and I’ve worked as a consultant with various businesses at all stages so I have mixed loyalties and multiple interests.}
I will blog repeatedly on the nuts and bolts of sustainability in business models and VC funding for Web 2.0, but in this post I’m taking a more sociological approach to the problem.
Prior to generating solutions, I feel that it is necessary to examine the many systemic problems that necessitate the need for VCs and Startups to do some much needed soul-searching to realign their actions with their desires and the realities of the emerging landscape.
Problem #1: Anyone born after 1970 is distrustful of anyone born before 1965. Persons Over 40 and Under 40 are significantly different from a Psycho-Socio perspective (I will post on this specifically in the future).
{Full Disclosure: I was born after 1970 and am Under 40 and am very self-critical, self-analytical, and generally concerned with the cultural differences among America’s surviving post WWII generations as they relate to our approaches to risk, investing, and consumer behavior.}
Problem #2: Persons Under 40 envy and despise persons Over 40 often unknowingly and unintentionally. Remember, most of the durable innovations of the late twentieth, early twenty-first century belong to persons Over 40. Jay-Z, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc., etc. are all Over 40. The Under 40 folk have their fare share of hits, but none amount to the sheer cultural value and ubiquitous nature of their older brothers, sisters, cousins, and parents.
Problem #3: The Over 40 crowd differentiate themselves in respect to class, education, race, sex, geography, and career accomplishments. Under 40ers are totally immersed in a flat world with little divisions--people from Tel Aviv, Belgium, and LA hop on MySpace and Habbo and recreate themselves thus becoming what and who they want to be in a classless, raceless virtual society.
Problem #4: Persons Under 40 really have no template to follow. They are dedicated wholeheartedly to forging ahead and making their own way in life and business.
They saw their parents and older siblings:
Attain degrees in very expensive schools
Loaded with debt, pursue unfulfilling careers
Awash in debt, spend more than they earned
Become frustrated and disillusioned
Then
Struggle perpetually to reinvent themselves
Still learning to lead fulfilling lives.
There’s a reformation underway and the success of Startups and VCs is integral to the proper functioning of the global economy, so we better get this right.
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