I’ve labored in each Silicon Valley and Wall Road. I’ve been bitten by each the “construct cool shit” bug and the “make more cash” bug. I’ve worn a go well with & tie for my job in addition to a hoodie & shorts to my office.
It’s fascinating to discover these contrasting worlds and the totally different sides of our personalities by the lens of Valley and NYC.
So, how is the Silicon Valley mindset totally different from the New York mindset for creating companies, fixing issues, and promoting merchandise & providers?
Listed below are 3 ways how enterprise is finished in another way:
In Silicon Valley, founders typically give you new concepts from their day by day walks of life, develop a speculation, construct the product, and assume that prospects can be interested in it like a magnet if it’s a cool product. They don’t search permission/approval and are solely restricted by their creativeness.
In New York, it’s extra frequent to gather all the necessities from a consumer upfront, map out their programs & constraints, put every part on paper, and shut a sale. That is sensible as a result of they aren’t playing on an untested concept. However on the opposite excessive, it may additionally lead to “vapor promoting”, by which services or products are promoted & offered earlier than they even exist.
The Silicon Valley mindset is commonly related to a tradition of experimentation, a willingness to take dangers, and embrace failure as a studying alternative. This is the reason the Silicon Valley mindset could also be extra conducive to pursuing moonshot tasks which might be extremely formidable and dangerous.
In distinction, the New York mindset is commonly extra centered on minimizing threat & uncertainty and maximizing returns. This is the reason there’s a higher emphasis on belief and reliability. Consequently, the New York mindset could also be extra centered on roofshot tasks which have extra predictable economics however decrease possibilities of outsized rewards.
The hustle mindset and tradition of working exhausting on Wall Road are pushed by excessive stress and the expectation of lengthy hours. Those that are capable of put of their blood & sweat and say “sure” to new alternatives are sometimes those who thrive and have higher profession success. It’s wonderful to see a lot one can humanly accomplish by pushing their boundaries and dealing 16-hour days.
Silicon Valley’s hacker tradition prides itself in saying “no” to the grind. They consider that lowering stress & prioritizing total well-being is essential to artistic exploration. Techies pursue a meditative mind-set to enhance focus, productiveness, and unconventional pondering. When you notice that having an uncluttered mind-set creates the headspace to assume outdoors the field. That may’t be achieved once you’re always burned out, leaping from one activity to a different.
Is one mindset higher than the opposite? In all probability not. I’d assume the reality lies someplace within the center.
