Why Silicon Valley isn't special

Tech's facade that it is an industry of upstarts is crumbling

Silicon Valley has a perception problem. Steve Jobs once said, speaking about the irreverent culture he helped create, that “it’s better to be a pirate than join the navy”. This ethos served the community well when its firms existed at “pirate scale”. But now Silicon Valley’s most successful companies have become some of the largest in the world. This culture must accept that it has become the navy, with its remaining pirates facing a choice — enlist, or walk the plank.
 
Perhaps no company is struggling with this reality more than Google. Founded in 1998, the company famously adopted