The Valley Casino

The Mercury News has been discussing the windfall from YouTube's acquisition by Google. The disclosures show how far and wide the impact of the Valley's wealth creation goes. The beneficiaries include YouTube employees from the founders to admins, VCs (of course), but also some interesting others like Maury Povich and Forrest Sawyer. These articles are interesting in that they provide a glimpse of some of the people who get to invest in VC funds and startups like YouTube. I also liked the comparison of the valley to a giant casino with the acquisitions and IPOs playing the role of payouts at the slot machines. To be certain, wealth is created and shared in an extraordinarily egalitarian way in the Valley. But, most people outside the Valley do not see the excitement of the innovation happening here and the risk taking. They do not see the many startups that fail and the entrepreneurs who pick themselves up and go at it again. They do see the results of the innovation in the many end products which many use all over the world. There is some element of luck in who makes it and who does not, but I would call it karma more than luck :-)