

West Coast vs. East Coast: April Fools’ Day in Internet startup culture - cenedella
http://www.cenedella.com/job-search/west-coast-vs-east-coast-april-fools-day-in-internet-startup-culture/

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ChuckMcM
I suspect it has something to do with what is locally defined by the culture
as the 'successful' person.

In the Bay area (not the 'west coast') the local culture embraces the
'millionaire nerd.' Part of the archetype for this person is they are a 'kid
at heart' and may dress poorly, have star wars action figures on their mantle,
and spend hours discussing the finer points of some new videogame.

In NYC (not the East Coast) the local culture embraces the successful banker.
The archetype of this person is a wizard with finance who understands how to
convert a concept into a 35% margin. They court 'high net worth' individuals
and corporations who, to a large degree, manage their outward facing image as
part of their brand. They are acutely conscious of being at the 'right'
charity events, wearing the 'right' clothes, and hanging out with the 'right'
people.

People who want to be successful in New York don't do April Fools pranks
because it wouldn't project the serious 'brand' they want to build, people who
are successful don't do them because the realize just how much they depend on
their brand as part of their success and it makes no financial sense to risk
that with some goofy prank.

People in the Bay Area have seen billionaires hanging out with people in
clothes they bought at Sears, seeing if they can use a mentos-coke fountain to
knock over a trash can. Clearly the meme for them is "I don't care how stupid
this makes me look, I'm all about the fun." For them doing an April Fools
prank is just another way to have fun.

If you look around at who is successful in an area and their image in the
general media you can probably guess if they will have any interest in
participating in an April Fools prank.

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pitdesi
Interesting observation - I think there are a number of factors at play
here...

In my world (Business development/partnerships), I've noticed a diff between
west coast and east coast (really Bay area vs. non). The west coast guys are
less interested about getting money for BD deals than the east coast guys are.
I wonder if that is partially playing out here too... the west coast guys have
more money so they can spend their time with pranks (note- we did one too and
we're in Chicago)

Could be way overthinking it though.

Another point - I noticed that some of our peers in Chicago did April Fools
jokes but they didn't take over the homepage, they were just blogposts that
were likely never read.

