There’s a great discussion happening over at Namesake (LA-grown startup!) over whether or not the moniker “Silicon Beach” is appropriate to use for the burgeoning tech startup scene we have going here on in the LA area.
Mark Suster kicked off the debate with:
“I wish LA people would stop using this stupid “Silicon Beach” identity. Emphasizes all wrong stuff & doesn’t reflect our strengths,”
Brian Norgard, co-founder of Namesake, threw in his two cents:
I agree with @Mark Suster on this one. Los Angeles is continually described by the broader technology community as not serious. Sure, everyone knows there’s talent and creative energy in our community however even today that has not materialized into true respect. Believe me, I spend a ton of time in SV/SF/NY/Boston and Los Angeles is *not* respected. It’s disconcerting and false however some of the misconceptions about the ecosystem have merit. We can change these things though.
The Silicon Beach descriptor is cute but paints us—once again—into the same verbal and emotional landscape of SV. It’s not smart for a variety of reasons. The word ‘Silicon’ immediately draws Los Angeles into a competitive class. My belief about branding & product is that you should always strive to be differentiated. Second, the word ‘Silicon’ is frankly owned in our cultural fabric.
It’s interesting to see people in the community get worked up about the name. It seems that many are worried about the term “Silicon Beach” casting negative connotations on the entrepreneurs of LA. Many feel that the term conjures up too many images of fake, lazy, and dumb people. They believe that by sounding so similar to “Silicon Valley,” LA will be forever pigeonholed as a “me-too” community, rather than be a unique environment where genuinely great things can be produced.
Really?
C’mon guys, it’s not like the term is “Silicon Shore,” where bodybuilding west coast Guidos with fake tans go to code mobile apps. Even if it was, it’s just a name. Anyone who manages to generalize all of your qualities after only hearing that you are from “Silicon Beach” or “Silicon Valley” or wherever is probably not someone whose opinion you need to care about. How can you possibly dismiss a company or a person just based on stereotypes that you may visualize from a phrase?
Tony Adam, Director at Myspace, hit the nail on the head, I feel:
I have read a lot of the comments and @Tyler Crowley has mentioned my favorite one in the “me too” element. We have a great technology ecosystem down here, why worry about how others think of us? We aren’t Silicon Valley, we aren’t SF, we aren’t NY. We have GREAT companies focused on Monetization and Content. We have great SF/Silicon Valley offices down here…Yahoo!’s Media arm is in Santa Monica and Google is opening up their Venice office. So, again, I ask, who cares? Just get shit done and stick to focusing on just being a great startup. It was #LATech in the Social Media world, and now you can call it “Silicon Beach”, the names will come and go…let’s focus on just building great companies here.
Worrying about a name so badly sounds almost too juvenile to be even discussing at length. Focus on making a great product and building a great company and it wont matter if you’re from Silicon Beach or Silicon Boob City, your success will speak for itself.
What are your thoughts on the name “Silicon Beach” ?
