The Silicon Valley culture

Great discussion last week with someone from an Internet company I admire. The SV culture is really very different. Wrong bets, failures, and bad lucks are carried as badges of honor. There's no one step to the goal (unless you are ridiculously lucky). You have to step down, take risk, accept changes. There's no shortage of smart people - so if you are not in the starting founding group, if you are not employee #12, then its not easy to step into a big role - well unless you are Eric Schdmit I guess. Street cred doesnt come by easily - unless you've been in a similar and *more senior* role and ready to take a plunge in a startup.

A completely different story that's just as fascinating - a 16yo who started his gaming business in Europe, using "cheap China labor" to play online games and win weapons, and then sell them for 3x or more profit!