Hiten Shah on how The Social Network ruined Silicon Valley startup culture
julianweisser · x · 2026-08-21
Julian Weisser cites and comments on Hiten Shah's perspective:
- Side Effects of The Social Network: The movie turned startups into an outcome to pursue rather than an act of building out of passion, attracting hype-chasing tourists instead of true builders.
- From Odd to Ordinary: In many fields like music, early innovators were iconoclasts, while followers often copied the style without the substance. The same transition occurred in startups, moving from 'odd' exploration to 'ordinary' imitation.
- Hiten's Experience: With over 20 years building companies like Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics and inventing playbooks copied by the industry, he returned as CEO of Crazy Egg. He reminds people that startups aren't that deep: have fun, do things, and get in contact with reality.
More from Companies & People
- NIO Adopts Volcano Engine TRAE, Achieving 90% AI Code Adoption Rate — 火山引擎 · 2026-08-21
- New journal to adopt GEB board, questioning value of legacy publishers — Afinetheorem · 2026-08-21
- AI labs widen the gap; US career benefits far exceed Canada — ditzikow · 2026-08-21
- Vibe coding is the new normal; hand-writing code is the real vibe — Yuchenj_UW · 2026-08-21
- Judge calls it live: Freight Scout, an AI agent for freight brokers, wins pitch comp — MatthewChang · 2026-08-21
- SF Voice AI Agent Hackathon on Aug 29 with $3k in prizes — ankur-at-guava · 2026-08-21