Deborah Perry Piscione, serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, policy wonk, television commentator and creator of Alley to the Valley, a community of the world's most influential women in venture, entrepreneurship, business, politics, and media, explores why the unique culture of innovation and progress in Silicon Valley represents our best hope for the future, and how it avoids the pitfalls of more traditional corporate culture in areas as varied as creativity, gender equity, speed to market, etc.
Silicon Valley (noun)
Definition: A vibrant ecosystem of innovators, investors and destructive management (those not afraid to buck the status quo) whose culture and human capital is relationship-driven and based on meritocracy. Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world to start an entrepreneurial venture due to its high-risk tolerance culture, yet it thrives in one of the country's worst states to do business. It is an ecosystem that provides a competitive advantage for those who embrace it.
There is something in the air between Stanford University in Palo Alto, Google in Mountain View, and Apple in Cupertino--three cities in Silicon Valley-- that has significantly empowered the area more than any other place on earth.
When you come to Silicon Valley from other spheres of influence, it is not the abundant sunshine, the rolling hills and landscape, or the housing costs to which you have to immediately adapt to; it is the barrage of leading professionals who ask, "how can I help you?", a group of innovators, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and academicians--the tightly dense ecosystem that makes Silicon Valley so exclusive.
The book will draw on countless examples and interviews of the leading executives and companies in the Silicon Valley space, including tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, etc. to show how freedom and collaboration (including collaboration between public and private institutions) produce high-quality, forward-looking, socially conscious and profitable enterprises.
All things being equal, business is just business in Silicon Valley. Operating plans, profit & loss statements, and cash flow all look the same no matter where you are. What makes Silicon Valley so inherently different to do business in? Why do people come here, and why don't they leave? Is it the weather, the lifestyle, the influence of Asian and Indian culture, the value of meritocracy, the investors' trickle down wealth, the ecosystem, the risk tolerance, and/or the appreciation of failure?
"A solid overview of the "world's global innovation capital.""... In this brisk examination of the valley's "ecosystem and culture" she draws on interviews with innovators, venture capitalists and others to describe the genesis of this unusual creative hub, its main characteristics and how others can apply lessons learned there to innovative endeavors elsewhere... a valuable glimpse of a mecca of innovation"
- Kirkus review
"The book succeeds in its mission to illustrate how Silicon Valley's history and mindset have created an environment for success... [it] offers a bird's-eye view of one of the most exceptional economic ecosystems in the U.S., which is sure to interest entrepreneurs and leaders alike."
- Publishers Weekly
