Nearly five years ago, I wrote a post called Color and the Mania in this Valley (you might want to re-read it; I think it’s pretty good). In it I mentioned how, many years earlier, a company opened up adjacent to my start-up, Prophet:
Next door to us was a startup called DoDots. They appeared out of the blue and had $20,000,000 dropped into their laps for a product which – as far as I could tell – was absolutely useless. It needled me that someone could dream up an idea – – and, in my mind, a really lame idea – – and, without a single dollar of revenue, let alone profit, get a check for twenty million dollars to pursue their “dream.” I admit I was a little jealous at not having that kind of cash at my disposal, particularly since I had worked hard on a legitimate enterprise for years.
(In case you didn’t read the article, DoDots went belly-up within a year, as did many other well-funded startups). What I remember most clearly about DoDots was that each time I walked down the street and passed their office, they would be playing ping pong. Every. Single. Time. And I was reminded of this when I saw this question posted recently on a favorite web site of mine, Quora (I’ve tinted portions of the snippets I’ve pasted below for emphasis):
Now, if we were living in a sane, rational world, the universal answer would be easy: “Kick their asses, throw them in the street, tell them they’re fired, and go hire eight people that are ready to work hard.” But in this economy – – – particularly here in pampered Palo Alto – – the kinds of responses you get to the above question are more along these lines:
Got that? Don’t shout. Let me explain a bit: demand for grey matter is red hot these days. If you are a smart engineer, you can write your ticket. Not only can you write your ticket, but wherever it is you wind up (Palantir, Facebook, Google, or whatever other white-hot place you care to name), you can live the high life. I must say, I’m a bit surprised that a tiny company like the one described above already has this kind of goofing off, but the “Fraternity with a Paycheck” expectation is very strong these days.
There was other input….
Include those ping-pong players, boss! And, by God, make sure their direct deposit paychecks are running smoothly!
What else did Quora members have to offer as advice? Well….
Why worry about revenue when you can put together an intra-office ping pong tournament, boys and girls?
I’m sure to those of you who live in somewhat saner parts of the country, this probably seems like a joke. I assure you, it isn’t. If you are a male in his early to mid 20s with strong programming skills, the world is your oyster right now. It’s just like the bubble of the late 90s, but much stronger and much richer. The salaries, perquisites, and daily goodies at the office dwarf what we saw during the prior bubble, and when the day comes (and it will come, sooner or later) that this bubble bursts too, you’re going to find a awful lot of shocked adults wondering why they’re not getting paid a quarter million dollars a year to play ping-pong at the office anymore.
