Building an Information Empire

Seeing the Water

Information is invisible

SV’s short attention span

SV’s short attention span

Information as Ideology

“Controlling the general population has always been a dominant concern of power and privilege, particularly since the first modern democratic revolution in seventeenth-century England.”

"This is the new model."

– Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Management, Google

"Y Combinator is a big change from the way business is usually done in tech circles."

– USA Today

"We love YC!"

– Fred Wilson, Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures

"I love everything about Y Combinator. It captures the essence of Silicon Valley."

– Michael Arrington, Editor, TechCrunch

Uncomfortable Facts

Entrepreneurs are the New Labor

"This is the new model."

– Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Management, Google

"Y Combinator is a big change from the way business is usually done in tech circles."

– USA Today

"We love YC!"

– Fred Wilson, Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures

"I love everything about Y Combinator. It captures the essence of Silicon Valley."

– Michael Arrington, Editor, TechCrunch

Two Optimistic Scenarios

Conclusions

What is Water?

Build Your Own Fishtank

The Down Town Project in Las Vegas

Build your own fish tank

Reading List

[Forbes] Entrepreneurs Are The New Labor

[Wired] One Startup’s Struggle to Survive the Silicon Valley Gold Rush -

[Formation 8] The Smart Enterprise Wave

[Book] The Master Switch