No One Is Truly Out of Reach in Silicon Valley

One thing that changed my values significantly after moving to Silicon Valley is a vague sense of openness: “there’s no one I can’t meet.”

You could even call it a sense of omnipotence.

In Silicon Valley, networking matters even more than it did when I was living in Japan. One reason is the different nature of the hiring process. In Silicon Valley, most recruiting activity happens in cafes and restaurants. This isn’t just about location. It means the basic process takes place almost entirely in private spaces. Rarely do you see someone interviewed once or twice in an office and then handed an offer letter. Just as rarely do you see recruiters going in and out of offices, running a series of interviews, and bringing someone in that way.

So what does the process actually look like? The first meeting happens over lunch, as a friend a colleague brought along. After that, you have dinner together a few times, talk over coffee about each other’s values and businesses, and then, once the timing is right for both sides, an actual offer gets made (the location varies). None of this is unique to Silicon Valley. If anything, I think Japanese people are far too indifferent to this. Networking matters, because the organization you belong to is ultimately just a temporary vessel. Unless you always keep multiple options open so you can take the right action depending on the situation, your career ends up left to someone else, or rather, left to the organization.

Once everyone shares this kind of common awareness, they inevitably become socially outgoing as a matter of course. As a result, opportunities to meet people increase, and you become able to casually meet anyone. This isn’t just true from an employee’s perspective. A business owner never knows where the golden egg is hiding, so you want to keep your antennae up at all times, and most critically important information travels through close friends.

Personal connections matter enormously.

Early on after moving to the US, I once asked J, who was a Director at Google at the time, “Why doesn’t anyone hand out business cards in Silicon Valley?” His answer was: “The people who’ll remember you will remember you, and the people who won’t, won’t. In that sense, getting a business card doesn’t mean anything. Also, say there’s some technology and you think, oh, that guy knew a lot about that, but you can’t remember his name. When you met him, some friend must have brought him along. So you’d know who that friend was. Then you just ask that friend.”

I was amazed at how lazy that sounded, but at the same time I thought, well, that does sound easygoing and nice. I feel like I’ve been colored by Silicon Valley ever since that moment (for better or worse).

Some people call Silicon Valley “Silicon Valley Village.” I think that’s a pretty accurate name.

Sometimes it’s discussed in a geopolitical context, like “West Coast versus East Coast.” You could also point out that it’s a place where a huge concentration of the world’s wealth and wisdom gathers, yet it isn’t an abnormally dense population center. It’s actually a relatively small community. But I think what lies at the very root of it is a “shared mentality.”

Needless to say, Silicon Valley is full of immigrants. Even setting aside people who crossed national borders, there are plenty of young people who left their hometowns to come make their fortune. Everyone is seriously betting on the possibility of their own career. No one there is trying to stop being diligent. What I find extremely unusual is that so many people almost innocently believe they “share” this common trait.

From the moment you meet, you’re already old friends.

I think this way of thinking can be applied in many situations.

Even in Silicon Valley, there are poor people, and there are people who fail at business over and over. But everyone is a “fellow challenger.”

Always diligent, always humble, occasionally arrogant, but pressing forward single-mindedly, and communicating that accurately to others. If you keep doing that, I think you can become “one of the gang” to a lot of people.

If you do, I think you’ll start to feel that “there’s no one I want to meet but can’t.”

The content of this post is an excerpt (original text) from the following book. If you’re interested, please pick up a copy.

The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup

The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup

Originally published in Japanese at https://clazytech.com/2022/08/1103/. Translated with LLM assistance and reviewed before publication.