
A Review of the TV Show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley - acangiano
http://programmingzen.com/2012/11/14/a-review-of-the-tv-show-start-ups-silicon-valley/
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physcab
This show is pure mind-rot television. It's as accurate in portraying startups
as _The Real Housewives_ portrays real families, or _The Hills_ portrays real
friendships. If you have never worked in a startup before and you're looking
to see what its like, you are being misled. And if you have worked at a
startup before, this show comes off as entertaining at best. Personally, I
really like _SharkTank_. While I've never had experience pitching an idea, the
investors always give sound feedback and I enjoy the backstory and follow-ups
that they do with the companies.

~~~
pedalpete
Great example using Shark Tank, which is also dramatized for TV. They take the
most entertaining pitches, most people don't get a deal, because the show
isn't about making deals, it's about selling entertainment. And the
'investors' are their for their image, not their deal flow.

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Aloisius
I find it to be an ok reality tv show that is disconnected from reality enough
to be entertaining, but with hints of real life poking through.

How many of us have known someone who had an idea for a startup, but can't do
an elevator pitch? Or known a self-promoter with a bunch of shallow
relationships, but styles themselves as a serious networker? Or someone who
when they make a little money, blows it on fancy toys and cars? Or someone who
thinks pitching is just a formality to getting money?

These are real archetypes. They exist. I've met plenty of them. Sometimes,
against all odds, they are even successful.

~~~
LisaG
Oh and the girl who says that engineers are secondary to the success of a
startup and that people with ideas are the key element. There are a lot of
those people around here.

~~~
dm8
Really? Do we really have "entrepreneurs" in bay area who say "engineers are
secondary"? I guess thats why investors complain there is more noise rather
than signal in the bay area nowadays. I wonder is it because movies like
Social Network. I also fear shows like this might excite wrong audiences.

~~~
megablast
Are you being sarcastic? Of course, you have people who have never worked with
anyone before, come along with an idea, and think they are the most important
people.

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magsafe
I agree with everything this article says, but the segment showing the Dave
McClure pitch was the most "real" and fun part of the first episode. It was
intense, exciting, and quiet realistic, if not a bit predictable (when Ben
proudly states that he has 42 other businesses). In my opinion, the 5 minute
segment filmed at Dave McClure's desk made up for sitting through an hour of
b.s party scenes.

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ndonnellan
If you can find it, I recommend Startup .com (documentary about govWorks .com)
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/> It follows a dot-com bubble company's
founders, but still relevant, interesting and very real.

~~~
travem
Another show I remember liking a few years ago was Startup Junkies, it's
available at hulu <http://www.hulu.com/start-up-junkies>

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littlegiantcap
The thing isn't that this show is necessarily inaccurate, but that it betrays
the spirit of what startup culture is supposed to be. A large reason why I,
and I suspect many other people, got into this is that it was seen as a true
meritocracy. It's supposed to be about people building something other people
love. Nothing else is supposed to matter. It's not about your dad's friend
being the boss, or that you were both alums at the same Ivy league school, or
brothers in the same fraternity. It's supposed to be about your ability to
create real value.

This show makes it seem like what we're doing is the bad parts of Hollywood
mixed with the movie the social network. Again, it's not that it's necessarily
inaccurate to some, but, at least for me, it's not what it's about. I just
wish that a show like this could have promoted startup culture as a kind of
culture that promotes tearing down barriers and your merit being based on how
hard you work and what you accomplish.

~~~
ojbyrne
"betrays the spirit of what startup culture is supposed to be" is probably
implied by "reality show"

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kin
As unfortunate as it is, this is Bravo TV. These people do exist (granted, as
a minority), and they are relatively accurately represented IMO. The show
seems to be going for the Sean Parker as represented in the movie The Social
Network. They're trying to go for the most dramatic and outrageous scenes
possible, and they do happen occasionally. Yes, it is missing out on a whole
other side of it all and I hope that they at least show the audience a few
scenes of the actual culture (if even in a condescending matter).

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kkt262
I have to say that it was mostly the girls in the show that annoyed me. The
guys were pretty believable in my opinion, and also legitimate. One of them
was the founder of Carsabi (YC company).

I'm a startup founder and I've been to a costume party or two in my time. I'm
not just at home coding all day. And yes, I've drank alcohol before and had
fun, drunken, crazy nights.

For some reason I feel like the people who are bitter about this show are
bitter because they work 24/7 and are completely stressed out. They don't like
the idea that some people are making startups and having fun as well.

In the end, though, people need to stop taking this thing so seriously. They
obviously took 6 people with the most extreme personalities out of Silicon
Valley to do a TV show to ENTERTAIN. People understand that. People know that
not everybody in Jersey acts like the guys in Jersey Shore.

I will say that the Sarah girl annoyed the hell out of me. When she said that
one of her tweets was worth $10,000 I just laughed. She barely even has any
followers.

~~~
robryan
It is about the balance though. Sure everyone goes to parties, I wouldn't
devote most of an episode to it unless it was relevant to what they were
doing.

Clearly though it isn't directed at the majority of people working in
startups, who would be way more interested in what the characters were
building and how they were doing it.

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johnyzee
What I would really like is a show following a Y Combinator batch, from start
to finish and beyond.

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sixQuarks
Bloomberg did something like this with TechStars:
<http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/shows/techstars/>

~~~
stitchy
Well, this looks a lot better than the other show. Thanks for sharing!

~~~
robryan
From the couple of eps I watched it still is a little reality tv style. But
compared to this show it is great.

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sakopov
"If you're not aiming for something a billion dollars or larger, why waste
your time?" This sounds a lot like a show about sell-outs and brogrammers.

~~~
justincpollard
Isn't this generally what investors look for in a market? Something large
enough that even a small share can earn a handsome return? I wouldn't judge
Dwight on that statement alone; Ms. Zuckerberg just needed something juicy for
her audience. My guess is there's much more to him than that.

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justincpollard
I've actually enjoyed the first two episodes (half watching while
programming); they're are quite entertaining! I think it's a bit unfair to
judge the overarching merits of the personalities depicted just yet because we
haven't gotten to know most of them. We know Sarah Austin, the life blogger,
and the Way duo. The first 2 episodes haven't focused much on Kim Taylor, who
has, in fact, worked in the industry over the past few years. Nor do we know
much about Dwight's ambitions (yea, we've seen him party and make some general
statements about his goals, but we don't know much about the process he went
through with regards to Carsabi), though he and his co-founder are apparently
Berkeley grads.

If at some point we get to more more about the lives of these two over the
last 6 months, I think the overall tone of the show will have shifted.

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spitfire
So where can people not in the US find the show? (can't get it in itunes,
doesn't air on TV here).

It's a little far fetched to be surprised that the tech industry would be
poorly portrayed. If you've ever seen a police, medical, spy, or law drama on
TV you know what to expect. Good, brainless fun.

~~~
ainsleyb
Try
[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ELdlNqFzO2slw&featu...](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ELdlNqFzO2slw&feature=plcp)

~~~
spitfire
Nope. Not outside the US at least.

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kylecsteele
I'm in different because it's "reality" Television; with "television" being
the operative word. We can talk about how it misrepresents the real Silicon
Valley (Note: Which I know nothing about) but let's not forget, that it's a
business and not a non profit. So the objective of the creators has been
achieved: 1)Tell an entertaining story, 2)Get people to promote it by
talking/blog about it about because they love or hate it, and 3) know that the
promotion will bring eyeballs/ratings which leads to underpants and profits!
At least for one season, it's mission accomplished for Randi.

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ktrgardiner
But anyone familiar with Bravo programming knows that it's just par for the
course. After all, it's on the same channel as all the Real Housewives shows.
Bravo reality shows depict glamorous and dramatic lives that most people won't
experience, whether it be first or second-hand. They're realistic, but in a
weed through ten thousand people until you find 5 who fit the mold you want to
fill kind of way. They're not all like American Pickers or other shows in that
sub-genre which depict normal, everyday people that you encounter every day.

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kelyjames
I think what it comes down to is that the show was crafted for Bravo's target
audience which is not anyone that reads Hacker News. The general silliness of
it is a by product of inputting the start-up Silicon Valley theme into there
show generator it outputs a flaky drama. The flaky drama core of the show is
what makes it a Bravo show. All there other shows have that same core. I
changed the channel after 5 minutes.

What would a better start-up show look like?

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pron
Well, this is a very serious review, which is what you'd expect from an SV
industry insider. If you'd rather read a funnier one, take a look at "I’m Not
Here To Make Friendster" -
[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2012/11/tech_b...](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2012/11/tech_business_reality_show_start_ups_silicon_valley_reviewed.html)

~~~
mmahemoff
And another funny one: [http://betabeat.com/2012/10/silicon-valley-reality-tv-
show-s...](http://betabeat.com/2012/10/silicon-valley-reality-tv-show-
startups-shots/)

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paulhauggis
I thought the show was terrible. It was 99% drama and 1% actual content.

Sharktank and Dragon's den are much better.

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dlitwak
Yes, some of these people exist in silicon valley. But the fact that the
entire cast is white, not one asian or indian, there are only a couple
engineers, and they live extravagantly, they did not pick a good cross-section
of what the valley is really like.

I know shameless networkers, I know wantrepreneurs, I know brogrammers (kind
of am one to be honest). But seriously? the entire valley isn't like that, and
this only reinforces those negative stereotypes.

You can find plenty of drama with real life experiences. We got a frivolous
cease and desist letter that stressed me out for an entire day when I thought
we might have to change our name, I slept on my roommates floor so I could
make a few hundred dollars off my room on AirBnB during the Outside Lands
weekend. My friends and family loaned me money, paid for meals, let me airbnb
out their apartments for profit while they were away and gave me almost all
the proceeds. Follow enough entrepreneurs and you won't need to manufacture
drama and you don't need to show me searching for a semicolon in my code.

In conclusion, a wasted opportunity.

QED

~~~
megablast
There aim is to entertain, not represent an accurate idea of the life of
startups. More popcorn, less historical.

Because they want more people to watch it.

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patmcguire
I like how there's almost no footage in the second episode for the car guys.
Just a two second shot of code being written before the producers gave up.

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melvinmt
Where can I watch this show online?

~~~
ainsleyb
The first episode is available for free on iTunes:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/start-ups-silicon-
vall...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/start-ups-silicon-valley-
season/id570755482)

It's a travesty, and puts female entrepreneurs in a poor light, pitting them
against each other and making them look petty.

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fotoflo
Thought it was going to be about Startups doing TV Shows. In reality it is
about TV shows about Startups. Be warned.

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rprasad
_They most prominent ones are depicted as social butterflies trying to use
their connections to succeed. Who you know does matter, but it’s definitely
not the focus in the disruptive environment of startups._

Maybe its just me, but I felt this show accurately depicts a large segment of
SV startups, i.e., startups funded on the basis of founder connections rather
than the merit of the underlying idea or execution (i.e., Color). It also
accurately depicts the outright silliness of so many startup ideas
(see...whatever the idea is behind the siblings' startup, plus the ones
described in the second episode at the blonde's conference.)

 _Overall this show is an utter travesty and a complete misrepresentation of
what the startup world is really like. It is to the startup world what porn is
to real sex. It’s Hollywood’s misunderstanding of what the nerdy neighbors in
Silicon Valley are doing._

The show is very representative of the experience of _these_ particular
individuals. They are all working in the startup world. Just because their
experiences aren't his experiences doesn't make them any less real. Indeed,
I've seen all of those "contrived" disagreements and drama take place in
startups that weren't on TV. I've met people just like the siblings, just like
that one girl who actually does some work, just like the gay programmer guy,
and just like that Carsabi guy.

 _The sacrifices, risks, low profile, and 70+ hours workweeks of most actual
startup founders are mocked and trivialized by a show that portrays a carefree
world where you can easily make it if you’re connected enough and can pull the
right strings. Where partying and looks come first, and where they are
virtually never shown, you know, actually doing any hard work._

This pretty accurately describes my experiences with both SV and Silicon Beach
(in Santa Monica).

The goal of this show is not to be educational. It is to be entertainment.
It's not going to focus on, or even show the boring stuff.

~~~
ry0ohki
I agree, while it's not an accurate representation of the majority of
startups, it is a pretty accurate representation of some of the wanteprenuers
that are "business people" with some money that no nothing about programming
and want to get into Startup Life (tm)

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vvortex3
Fake, and gay. Go to the Hacker Dojo to see the real shit.

