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posted by CoolHand on Sunday August 02 2015, @06:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the say-it-isn't-so dept.

Danny Crichton writes at TechCrunch that startups in Silicon Valley run on an alchemy of ignorance and amnesia and that lying is a requisite and daily part of being a founder, the grease that keeps the startup flywheel running. Most startups fail. The vast, vast majority of startup employees will never exercise their options, let alone become millionaires while doing it. But founders have little choice as they sell their company to everyone, whether investors, employees, potential employees, or clients. "Founders have to tell the lie – that everything is fine, that a feature is going to launch even though the engineer for that feature hasn't been hired yet, that payroll will run even though the VC dollars are still nowhere on the horizon," writes Crichton. "For one of the most hyper-rational populations in the world, Silicon Valley runs off a myth about startup success, of the lowly founder conquering the world."

Crichton says that Silicon Valley needs a new transparent approach toward information, but also need to understand that startups are inherently risky – and accept the lies that come with them. Founders can't expect to hide the term sheets and their liquidation preferences from employees who ask and informed employees have a right to know what they are getting into. "We still need that Big Lie to function. We still need to dream about the possibility of success in order to realize it," concludes Crichton. "With greater transparency comes a responsibility on the part of everyone in the startup ecosystem to understand and empathize with the plight of founders trying to build their companies."


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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2015, @06:40AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2015, @06:40AM (#216947)

    The Workers feared our lying abilities, so we were beaten, hunted and killed. Finally we arrived here in Silicon Valley. And here, safe in our isolation, we made our startup.

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