This Week in Startups · Thursday, October 1, 2026
A discussion highlighted the evolution of Silicon Valley culture, moving from a Web 2.0 era of passion projects to a current focus on career advancement. While early tech was driven by founders wanting to see products exist, the trend has shifted towards building companies as a strategic career move. This change is seen as a maturation of the industry, though some lament the potential loss of pure exploration.
“There was no money in the system. So Weblogs Inc., where we built and Gadget, or Movable Type, or Dig, or Delicious, or Flickr. These were all passion projects by small teams that just wanted to see those products exist.”
“That's what I loved about Silicon Valley in San Francisco during that time, because people were just doing it not because they wanted to make money, because it was not a popular thing to do, and it was not a good career path. They, Yeah. Let's see if we can actually get this website to exist in the world.”
“The culture has changed. It's matured and people are coming here for their career now. They're like, "Okay, I want to be a career... This is a good career move."”