REVIEW | Unrealistic TV: “Start-ups: Silicon Valley”
The final episode of Bravo’s Start-ups: Silicon Valley aired recently, wrapping up an 8-episode run of what could be considered the most bizarre depiction of entrepreneurs and start-ups to date. I would not be exaggerating if I told you that it left my head spinning and my mouth agape for at least an hour. What was that? No really, what just happened there?
In case you missed it, spotlight-loving Randi Zuckerberg (sister to that Mark), decided to break away from Facebook and forge her own path in life, debuting as a reality TV producer of a series that follows entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley as they try to make it big. Sounds compelling, right? She has the experience and background to pull something like this off. Anyone who lives and works in the start-up world knows that big gambles and intense pivots happen in business every day that could easily be TV-worthy.
If you caught the firestorm of protest from the tech sector against it, I am here to tell you, believe the hype — this show stinks. Where to begin? How about at the beginning where viewers are introduced to the cast of young sexy-ish self-proclaimed nerds who work hard, party harder and make-out with each other.
I honestly had an open mind and no particular expectations, but was quickly horrified at the plotline from the first episode. We are introduced to the characters, as they are half-naked and getting dressed. They sound serious about start-ups, however actions speak louder than words. There is catchy camera work and music. The entire cast, sans two, live in swanky upscale digs. Maybe too upscale, like the blogger that lives at the Four Seasons hotel?
You might expect to see co-working spaces, ideation, or strategy around how to go about creating a start-up. Perhaps some insider knowledge on problem-solving, hiring the right engineer, scaling, outsourcing or even footage of Silicon Valley. Instead, the majority of the show takes place in San Francisco, and viewers are subjected to spray tanning and make-up sessions, a toga party, a cat-fight, a hook-up drama, and unbelievably shallow egotistical characters. And that is just the first episode. It goes downhill from there. If that sounds pretty far removed from the actual start-up technology world — wait, it gets worse. How many entrepreneurs do you know who would throw a wild party the night before meeting a prominent angel investor? Not many. How many would spend the morning debating what to wear to the meeting, arrive hung over and get caught napping under the angel’s desk while waiting? None. Yeah. Unrealistic.
Who are these entrepreneurs anyway? There is the British brother/sister team Ben and Hermione Way that mostly whine to each other about who has more responsibility while using magical thinking to try to raise $500k. They can’t believe people are not lining up to give it them. We see Kim Taylor, a marketer, who spontaneously (but on camera) quits her big career at a start-up to “put it all on the line” to pursue an attempt to launch her own ‘event fashion suggestion’ thingy (she’s not sure what is it yet), while sipping wine. Kim a former dancer/gymnast names her company Shonova, after her favorite gymnastics move. So that happened, for like 8 episodes.
Worse, one of the main storylines throughout the entire season is the hot girl blogger battle between the immature self-serving Sarah Austin and raunchy drama queen Hermione Way. Sarah Austin gambles her real-life reputation on the show and loses becoming infamous as the show’s villain. There is no good angle to her screen time. Showing her having a mammogram scare on camera does not redeem her ridiculous tantrums. Zuckerberg told press she wanted the show to encourage women to get into tech. These women are not portrayed in an inspirational manner.
There is a gay developer, David Murray, who has an impressive pedigree, but lives off his partner and procrastinates from working to gossip, give dildos as birthday presents and beg for money. Finally, there is the very serious always coding Dwight Crowe, who is a blackout drinker. Crowe’s start-up looked promising, and is “sold” to Facebook in the big finale. But what actually happened in reality is that Craig’s List blocked his car indexing listing service and it fell apart. He did get hired based on his talent by Facebook, an aqui-hire in that sense. Is it a victory to work for the man after all of those statements about needing to be the founder boss? Who knows?
The bottom line is the show was missing the implied main event – a real depiction of the start-up process in Silicon Valley. The possibility of second season seems far-fetched. Yet, despite the negative reaction, time slot demotion and no second season offers as of yet for this shockingly vapid reality series — believe it or not there is more coming. Zuckerberg is now casting for a New York spin-off, Silicon Alley. Any takers?
