A Tale of Two (Silicon) Valleys

"Silicon Valley is not a place but a state of mind," legendary venture capitalist John Doerr famously observed.

As a  state of mind the Valley's a destination that's attracted unequalled recognition and also exerted a powerful force of attraction for generations of engineers, techies, entrepreneurs and investors from around the world.

Today, the state of mind in the Valley is vastly different from the Valley of Gordon Moore, Steve Jobs and the legions of entrepreneurs and VCs who have flocked here for decades to turn their disruptive silicon and software visions into reality - and stock options.

In a recent New York Times contributed article venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, another Valley legend, worried out loud about the Valley's current state of mind and a concern that the present generation of Valley entrepreneurs are "driven by greed, not vision."

Khosla's discomfort over the deteriorating values and the distorted vision up and down Highway 101 is reflected in the widely reported angst in the Valley about a soon-to-debut Bravo network 'Silicon Valley' reality TV series. "Might it expose, say, vacuousness, venality, or even, perish the concept, truth? It appears the Valley is shuddering," the subhead of a recent C/Net article opined, referring to local reaction to the pending TV series.

To drive the Valley's engines of innovation Khosla observed "You want missionaries, not mercenaries - passionate, maniacally focused founders who believe in a vision." You also need disruption.