Something very interesting is happening here [Ontario]. This area has a very high proportion of startups to population. Google loves startups …. Because of Visa situations, Canada has received a disproportionate amount of the talent that is coming into North America.
– Steve Woods, Google’s top Canadian employee
If you are tethered to hardware, high value services that customers don’t have an interest in, that cost too much money and take too much time, or you are just selling commodities and IT that people don’t value because it doesn’t move the needle, there is a very good chance that you might not be around in three to five years.”
– Bill McDermott, co-CEO, SAP
On the surface, “delight” seems so goofily Californian, a spacey, new-age notion, that it practically begs to be mocked. Hold the eye rolls, however, because underneath its trendiness and the suspicion that it’s just some new marketing babble, the talk of delight signals a radical shift in the way Silicon Valley creates products. … The problem is that now with everyone climbing aboard the bandwagon, delight runs the risk of becoming so overused that its meaning becomes diluted. The temptation is for executives to believe they can create that special feeling by simply uttering “delight,” without rethinking the way they create products.
– Chris O’Brien, writer for the Los Angeles Times
A study by Washington’s Economic Policy Institute questions whether there really is a shortage of US tech talent. But a political question arises: if highly profitable Silicon Valley companies need engineers, why do they not pay to train them themselves? Why are they using tax-exempt money to lobby Congress into finding them a cheaper alternative?
– Christopher Caldwell, senior editor, The Weekly Standard
Recent publications by Reuters and Forbes magazines are pointing to a startling trend throughout Silicon Valley: age discrimination. Investors in new tech businesses are blatantly stating they prefer young chief executives over older, more experienced candidates. Not only are these investors potentially setting companies up to fail by potentially putting inexperienced CEOs in office, but they are also putting companies in a difficult situation. Companies that follow their investors’ advice on this matter may be violating the law.
– Law Offices of Lisa L. Maki