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Comment by dirktheman | Hacker News Reader

Silicon Valley today is like 1849 all over again. A gold rush. Everybody and their cousin flock to San Francisco expecting to find gold and strike it rich. They don't realize that it takes an insane amount of hard work and an ever insaner amount of sheer luck to make it. Sure, some of them succeed. But most of them don't, and several leave SF far worse off than when they arrived.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It's a nice counterbalance to all the success stories. Not that I mind reading success stories, but sometimes we forget that not everybody makes it big. Mandatory reading for anyone raising money!

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During the gold rush few really did find their fortune. But the ones who got really, really rich were the guys selling the tools (to dig). Who's selling the tools today?

You mean Apple? Or the vast array of organic-gourmet-breakfast-burrito-like eateries?

All jokes aside, you're right, the analogy has some flaws. Or maybe the tools supplier hasn't emerged yet. Talking about a big opportunity here!

Perhaps AWS? 37Signals? Databoard and measuring services? There was this startup from YC for generating leads...

I through about this the other day. Not really who sells the tool, but who profits from all those failed startups. Maybe part of the answer are all tech/founders conferences, workshops, meetups etc. They are not tools in strict sense, but they are business around whole thing.

Property owners.

About 15 years ago I was part of a start-up and internally we kept on going over that story and trying to be those same tool-sellers. But there wasn't any real execution on that.

Venture capitalists sell the founders capital and do pretty well. Same with lawyers selling them legal advice. And landlords selling them office space and housing.

I'd say it's mostly:

- Landlords and real estate developers (who are making a killing in the current bubble)

- B2B companies targeting startups

- Professional services (lawyers, etc.)

Chris Dixon has written about selling pickaxes in a gold rush: http://cdixon.org/2011/02/05/selling-pickaxes-during-a-gold-...

again, I probably wouldn't take my tech game plan from what worked for gold mining in 1849.

And we know who's getting really, really rich ... and its not 'people selling tools'. Its Google, Apple, Facebook, AirBnB, Dropbox, Stripe, MongoHQ, Heroku, Parse ... i.e. successful tech companies. Its not an unknown.

Parse, Heroku, Stripe, and Mongo are all selling tools. Arguably Apple as well (how many developers are using something OTHER than an Apple laptop?), although most of their revenue comes from mass market consumer products not sold specifically to developers.

During the California gold rush, the hardware sellers made tons of money, but during the Dawson gold rush, everybody knew the guy selling pickaxes made money. What happened was everybody tried to sell pickaxes, and the people selling luxuries, like eggs and fancy dresses made the money[1].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush#Logistics

Realtors & hosting companies.

I don't think this analogy holds up to cursory scrutiny.

Tech is responsible for huge wealth creation. If the Forbes 400 was around in 1849, you wouldn't have seen any gold miners occupying the top spots.

Its as apt as saying people going to Wall Street to make money is like the gold rush. The only similarity is its the same physical location.

he missed california but hit it rich in the montana gold rush and became one of the fifty richest americans ever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Clark

It's funny you say that - I've been wondering lately whether the current culture in Silicon Valley is a result of heritage (whether genetic or cultural) from those who moved to the area during the gold rush.

Interesting thought. Where I come from (The Netherlands) we pride ourselves on our 'Dutch East India Company-mentality', a spirit of trade, perseverance and guts. Aside from the slave trade-thingy, of course.

No, we're from a Protestant culture. We work hard or we feel guilty.

Funny, I'm dutch too.

Yes, as long as we stay humble. :)

That's a bit hyperbolic since being a software engineer is skill with very high demand globally, and people in SV tend to be paid higher than anywhere else. Sure you have your ramen bootstrappers, and equity dreamers, but even when you fail in those scenarios you usually come out with invaluable experience.

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