Lost in Silicon Valley
Posted: November 30th, 2007 | Author: admin | Filed under: blogservations | 4 Comments »Often I participate in meetings where we discuss who potential customers are for a product… what they think? … what they need? … how to design for them… how to connect with them emotionally… how to get closer to them? It’s very human to project one’s own way of life onto customers—especially customers you don’t have/know yet. And sometimes in Silicon Valley we are very very very human, in that way. It’s easy to believe that "everybody" is as tech-savvy (or social-media savvy, or whatever-savvy) as we are, etc. When this comes up I think of this famous Saul Steinberg cover from The New Yorker magazine. Just flip the coasts—and put the Atlantic Ocean and the countries beyond in the distance. I’m actually thinking of commissioning an artist to do a west coast version. Anybody interested? Please contact me.
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It’s also far to common to assume that other people care about the same things that you care about.
"Silicon Valley" is a very small echo chamber that seems to make a lot of noise if you’re in it, but in reality most people couldn’t care less about what goes on "there," regardless of their location.
that’s how i feel when i’m in new york, but i even forget about those other lumps out there.
Having worked on both coasts it is clear that there are cultural differences in business philosophy. I have found that Bay Area companies, even more mature enterprises, are consistently open to greater risk and willing try something new. In New York, risk tolerance seems to go in and out of favor as the economy fluctuates.
I had a poster as a kid that was the reverse of this centered from San Francisco… (Didn’t even realize it was a send up of the New Yorker until much, much later!) I don’t know whatever happened and I’m similarly unsure who the artist was… But be assured that it already exists. ;)