Translation

 

But if you want to build a feature that pretends to be a product that pretends to be a “startup” and you want to raise a bunch of cash from douchebags in order to flip it to Google or whomever in 18 months— then the valley is the only place to do that. - Jessica Darko“

It’s New York, baby. Everyone is here if full of crap. Fake people, searching fake opportunities, making fake friends, earning fake living.

What is happening since 2007?

I think Amazon Web Services has done more damage to the tech industry, than any other technology altogether. On top of it, all these Android and iOS app have sparked such a huge demand of IT, that companies no longer can outsource it to India and have to scramble to find local talents. Big companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook all opened up offices in Manhattan. The NYC despite being a huge city has become a desert when it comes for the search of talent. Clueless, would-be, so-called programmers ask for 100K starting salaries. They can’t program. They just want the money.

Year 2012.

Companies are just trying to hang on. Cost of living is sky high in New York. 100K is like a poverty line. You can’t afford one bedroom apartment with that amount of money. Everyone shares. I don’t know anyone who’d live comfortably in Manhattan by themselves. Everyone scramble. Everyone lives a “would-be” life. Everyone one hopes to made it tomorrow, to become rich like Donald Trump. But, hey, don’t forget that it is not going to happen. Fake city, fake career, fake opportunities.

It’s clear: the world has changed in the past 5 years. Thanks to AWS everyone can start a start-up, every subpar college dropout with little web scripting skills can launch a feature that would pretend to be a product and raise millions of VC money. All of that working from a laptop that is jammed on a tiny kitchen table near the window that faces a brick wall (it’s a common setup in Manhattan).

I am hoping this bubble 2.0 won’t be lasting long. We need a normal world to work in. If everyone would be a one-man start-up, who would then be the next Bill Gates? It’s scary.