It could be the Match of the Millennium: In one corner is
Silicon Valley, lauded for decades as the high-tech capital of the
world. In the other corner: Silicon Alley, a relative newcomer to
the high-tech terrain and an underdog in the struggle for dotcom
dominance (albeit the world leader in just about everything else).
The bell has sounded; the gloves are on! Who will prevail in this
exciting interface-off? And more important, who cares?
In other words, is this so-called rivalry for real, or is it
just a case of a few media types trying to stir up a bit of
dotcommotion? That depends on what you read and who you talk
to.
The tension seemed to reach new levels this past spring, at
least in the media. This was spurred on by a spate of articles by
East Coast journalists from such publications as The New York
Times and Harper's Bazaar, which, upon learning that
the Silicon Valley has 36 percent more men than women, decided to
essentially reduce the region to a mecca for date-challenged
millionaire geeks and the gold-digging women who want their money.
In response, West Coast publications like San Francisco-based Web
site Salon.com questioned the motivation of these East Coast
scribes in perpetuating these pernicious myths. Salon's story
concluded with a theory by San Francisco-based SFGirl.com's
founder, Patty Beron, that "New York is jealous."
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But while the media may be doing a lot more bicoastal
mudslinging than muckraking, true denizens of dotcom culture
question whether this coastal clash is all it's cracked up to
be. "I do think it's overplayed in the media," says
Mark Oldman, 31, co-founder of Vault.com, a New York City site that
provides an insider's view of working in a variety of
corporations from coast to coast. Oldman, a Stanford University
graduate, spent 10 years in the Valley before moving back to the
East Coast to start his Alley business. "There really
isn't a Hatfield-McCoy situation between the two coasts,"
he says. "When you work at an Internet company here, there
just isn't much time to care about the cultural differences on
the other side of the country."
Even SFGirl.com's Beron, 33, whose Web site follows the
Internet culture throughout the Bay area and beyond, has second
thoughts about some of her comments in Salon. "I'm not
sure why I said that about New York being jealous," she
admits, trying to recall the context in which she was speaking. At
the time of the interview, she explains, she was primarily annoyed
about the implication that Silicon Valley women are all out looking
for dotcom millionaires, when in truth, many are dotcom
millionaires themselves.
"The main point I was trying to get across was that women
are making lots of money in [San Francisco] and they aren't out
looking for rich guys," she says. "It's so insulting
to say we're out gold-digging and looking for husbands, when
really, we're all thinking 'Forget that! I'm going to
take care of myself and make my own money.'"
Rama Chiruvolu, 27, co-founder of New York City networking site
THESQUARE.com, recently moved to San Francisco to set up an office
on the West Coast. She says that, as a New Yorker, she believed
there was truth to the Silicon Valley gold-digger stereotypes, but
now that she's moved, she's found the image to be false.
She's now one of the women focusing on raking in the millions
herself.
Chiruvolu used to think there was a competition between the two
areas but has found that Valley people don't often think about
the Alley. "When I was in New York, I definitely felt we could
go toe-to-toe with Silicon Valley, but since I've been out
here, I don't even get the sense New York is on the
radar."
That may be the sense in the venture capital arena as well.
According to a survey by Pricewater-houseCoopers, the Alley only
brought in about $2.5 billion in venture capital last year, while
Valley start-ups attracted more than $13.4 billion. Murem Sharpe,
founder of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, start-up strategy incubator
24x2 LLC, points out that Silicon Valley has been a tech center for
decades.
Oldman believes this is starting to change though, particularly
with more VCs, like Redwood City, California, VC firm Draper Fisher
Jurvetson planning to open offices in New York. "Years ago,
there was funding envy," says Oldman. "You'd hear:
'Why don't we [move] to Silicon Valley? All the VCs are
there.' I no longer [hear that]."
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