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This is Your Life in Silicon Valley — Society & Culture
This is Your Life in Silicon Valley

Do you love HBO’s Silicon Valley? Do you like reading about the latest technology trends? Then you’ll love this show. Think of us as the real world/explain-it-how-it-is podcast for anyone with a Silicon Valley fetish. The Bay Area, San Francisco, and California in general are undergoing massive political and social change. We tackle issues like homelessness, the housing crisis, dating in the age of technology, startups, and other things you care about. How will it affect your life? It doesn’t matter whether you live in New York, Texas, Arkansas, Bulgaria or Latvia – you will find something applicable to your day-to-day life from this show.

And love it, or hate it the Silicon Valley/The Bay Area/California are the center of the technology universe right now. Insiders, and Valley apologists liken the Silicon Valley to Rome during the Renaissance. Others are more skeptical of the people in the Valley and their intentions. We examine life in the Valley by interviewing some of its most prominent insiders – both apologists and skeptics. We discuss the cultural quirks of living here, what to legitimately fear, what to feel excited about, and what is just plain weird.

(Image credit: Irina Blok, Producer: Max Savage (noisysavage.com).

Latest Episodes:

Is San Francisco Really All That Great? (Guest: Antonio García Martínez - NYT Bestselling Author of 'Chaos Monkeys') Jul 12, 2018

Show notes

Antonio García Martínez is no stranger to controversy. He sold a company, was a key architect of Facebook's advertising products, wrote a bestselling book (which was critical of some of his old colleagues), and now lives in a yurt in Washington. Put lightly, he has some strong opinions.

García Martínez eloquently explains some of his own experiences in San Francisco, how he would solve some of the city's biggest problems, and how privilege doesn't insulate you from problems. The conversation bounces from subject to subject in frenetic style. We hear about García Martínez' upbringing in Miami, his time at Goldman Sachs, and his experience at Facebook. García Martínez finds himself - at times - in the position of defending his old employer (whereas in his book he comes off as critical of Facebook).

This is a must-listen interview.

The City is Burning Down Jun 29, 2018

Show notes

Keith Spencer is a cover editor, and Nicole Karlis is a news writer at Salon. They took vastly different paths to get to San Francisco, and have some strong perspectives on how the city can be saved.

Nicole arrived in San Francisco from the midwest where she studied journalism. She began her career in the Bay Area in tech, but her experience soured and she left for India. She returned to the city and her trip abroad shaped her views on what she wanted to do next. We learn about Nicole's journey to the Bay Area, and how her views have changed over time.

Keith is a fourth generation San Franciscan. He lives and breathes San Francisco. His relatives have seen the ups and downs of living here, and he could have followed multiple paths. We learn about why Keith ended up where he is, and what his perspective is on fixing some of the problems that ail the city.

Living in San Francisco Is Not Straightforward (Guest: Rick Marini, Entrepreneur, Investor) May 02, 2018

Show notes

Rick Marini moved to San Francisco from the East Coast and is living the Silicon Valley dream. He's a successful entrepreneur who has built a great life in a beautiful city. But the City is far from perfect. Rick talks about his views on San Francisco politics, what it's like to be a homeowner in a city where home ownership is unattainable by many, and what the future holds for San Francisco.

As it turns out, living here is not all that straightforward. What happens when someone overstays their welcome? What's it like raising kids here? There are plusses and minuses, and not everyone holds the same views.

Nothing is Permanent in the Valley (Guest: James Currier, Managing Partner, NFX) Apr 24, 2018

Show notes

James Currier is a serial entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley. When you hear words like 'virality' and 'network effects' thrown around my tech companies and employees - keep in mind that James pioneered many of these concepts. So how in James' eyes has the Valley changed with the onset of celebrity culture? What has he seen through boom and bust cycles here?

We spent an extensive amount of time talking to James about some of your favorite companies (Uber/Lyft), the changing notion of 'status' in the Silicon Valley, and what the future potentially holds. James is a candid, forthright guy who pulls no punches in this must-listen edition of 'This is Your Life in Silicon Valley'.

Can Tech Fix Democracy? (Guest: Jessica Alter, Founder - Tech For Campaigns) Apr 18, 2018

Show notes

Jessica Alter woke up on Wednesday Morning, the 9th of November 2016, and did not take a 'mental health day'. She got to work. What started as a Google Doc to organize like-minded individuals ended up becoming a large scale progressive movement called Tech For Campaigns.

Alter, a multiple time technology founder and executive, began using techniques she learned during her time in industry to consolidate large groups of people. Alter's organization has influenced multiple elections, and she's just getting started. How did she start Tech for Campaigns? What's her take on the tech industry, Silicon Valley and politics? We learn more in this episode.

San Francisco from an NPR Reporter's Perspective (Guest: Aarti Shahani, Tech Reporter for NPR) Apr 16, 2018

Show notes

Aarti Shahani has one of the most famous voices in Silicon Valley. She joins us for this week's edition to talk about her experience moving from New York to San Francisco, and some of the ins and outs of covering the tech scene here.

Shahani covers some of the biggest, most powerful companies in the world. What has she learned in the process? Are people here actually transparent? We learn that and more from Shahani, who shares some of her favorite 'twitter follows' during the interview.

Being Broke in San Francisco (Guest: Broke Ass Stuart, Mayoral Candidate, Writer) Apr 12, 2018

Show notes

Broke Ass Stuart is a famous San Franciscan from San Diego. How did he make his way here, and why did he end up running for mayor against Ed Lee?

BAS runs a popular website in San Francisco and thinks often about the divide between tech and non tech. He discusses the notion of civic responsibility with us, and why it's so lacking. Is community involvement the solution to San Francisco's problems? Expect some colorful language in this episode.

About that thing called Youtube... (Guest: Hunter Walk, Homebrew Ventures) Apr 09, 2018

Show notes

Hunter Walk is a Venture Capitalist and successful operator. He's perhaps best known for being the Head of Product at a little company called Youtube. So is everything Youtube accomplished good? We talk to Hunter about that and more.

We ask Hunter about tech culture, his experience moving to San Francisco, and his perspective on the infamous James Damore memo (which lit up a major controversy here in the Bay Area). Should Google have handled it any differently?

Crunched (Guest: Alexia Tsotsis, Former Editor-in-Chief of Techcrunch) Apr 01, 2018

Show notes

Alexia Tsotsis fell out of love with San Francisco, but fell back in love while preparing for this interview. We talk about Alexia's journey to San Francisco, and how she had a major part in the technology boom of the past decade. Alexia even has some choice catch phrases around bro culture in the city, and may add a new term or two to the vernacular.

Something Changed After 2007 (Guest: Chris Michel, Photographer) Apr 01, 2018

Show notes

Chris Michel is a world famous photographer, whose work has been featured in National Geographic amongst others. Michel talks about how San Francisco has changed over time, including one major change that happened in 2007. And about that homeless problem - what are the solutions and what should the city be doing about it? Michel dives into several interesting topics with hosts Jascha Kaykas-Wolff and Sunil Rajaraman.

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