HBO's Silicon Valley - Are 'Pied Piper' really the "Good Guys?

[Snarky_Kong]

@Dewey_Finn

Erlich was only partly responsible for blowing the $20 million that Bighead got. Remember that it was Bighead’s idea to move the in-ground pool and then to move it back. We were never told how much that cost, but it was presumably a lot.

The exact dollar amount is irrelevant. He knowingly abused a friend to that person’s financial ruin in an attempt to enrich himself.

[cherry_pez]

He really wasn’t trying to enrich himself though. He was just trying to throw an awesome party(luau on Alcatraz!) to rub it in the faces of all the people in the tech industry that thought he was a loser. Much closer to pathetic than evil.

I think the closest he gets to evil is when he basically kidnaps the kid after/during his mushroom trip.

[Isamu]

They’re the underdogs. Too geeky for the tech-nerd crowd (at Hooli), and too techy for the geek-squad (in basements). Just a bunch of kids with strong opinions, a few good ideas and the world against them. They don’t need to be “the good guys” for us to want to root them on.

[Snarky_Kong]

@cherry_pez

He really wasn’t trying to enrich himself though. He was just trying to throw an awesome party(luau on Alcatraz!) to rub it in the faces of all the people in the tech industry that thought he was a loser. Much closer to pathetic than evil.

That was only one way he blew money. He and Bighead started a company with Bighead’s money. That’s what the party was ostensibly for, publicity for their company. It 100% was to enrich himself.

Even if it’s just for that party, it’s still evil. He’s knowingly fucking over a “friend” for his own benefit. Something can be both pathetic and evil.

[Dewey_Finn]

FYI, here’s an article from The New Yorker about how precisely the show skewers Silicon Valley.

[Dewey_Finn]

@Snarky_Kong

That was only one way he blew money. He and Bighead started a company with Bighead’s money. That’s what the party was ostensibly for, publicity for their company. It 100% was to enrich himself.

Even if it’s just for that party, it’s still evil. He’s knowingly fucking over a “friend” for his own benefit. Something can be both pathetic and evil.

The deal with Bighead was a 50/50 partnership in which Bighead contributed his $20 million and Bachman contributed something or the other. Perhaps his skill at selecting startups for their incubator? So that was somewhat evil, or at least exploitative of Bighead’s innocence and trust.

[cherry_pez]

The partnership was the incubator which Bachman’s own shows doesn’t require much money. It’s not like he wanted to buy a Ferrari dealership or a sports franchise. He wanted access to the pool, blender, and cash for the party. He did take advantage of Big Head with the contract but I don’t think he had any clear objective in mind other than the party.

The only other big thing he spent money(not his of course) on was the blog to cover for Richard’s mistake. Maybe he bought a bong or five but I don’t see the evil, conniving Bachman enriching himself. He is sometimes incompetent though.

[Sam_Lowry]

@Riemann

There does seem to be a recurring theme that anyone with any degree of social or business acumen tends to screw them over rather easily. Jared adds interesting skills beyond just programming, but he seems to be “on the spectrum” just as much as Richard. Jared picks up on some things with surprising insight, but he completely misses other completely obvious things.

I think it’s a recurring theme that technical smarts are a whole lot more common than social and business smarts for the whole Silicon Valley. Even the smartest and most successful people on the show have social deficiencies or have made dumb business decisions.

@cherry_pez

He really wasn’t trying to enrich himself though. He was just trying to throw an awesome party(luau on Alcatraz!) to rub it in the faces of all the people in the tech industry that thought he was a loser. Much closer to pathetic than evil.

That is pathetic, but also I think shows that if he really did get a lot of money and success, he would be a villain out to destroy any opponents. Unlikely that he’ll ever get to Gavin Belson success considering his incompetency and constant smoking, but it is interesting.

Erlich did knowingly take advantage of Bighead, and while I do really like Bighead it is hard to feel too sorry for him, since he literally did nothing other than stumble into having millions of dollars. And since it’s not like his life is ruined now, he seemed happy enough with his Big Gulp and cannonballs and had a place to stay. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he had another good job soon because of his past “successes”.

[friedo]

@Dewey_Finn

FYI, here’s an article from The New Yorker about how precisely the show skewers Silicon Valley.

I can confirm for you that Silicon Valley is about half an inch from being a documentary.

[Enright3]

@Dewey_Finn

Erlich was only partly responsible for blowing the $20 million that Bighead got. Remember that it was Bighead’s idea to move the in-ground pool and then to move it back. We were never told how much that cost, but it was presumably a lot.

However to give the show credit, one of the funnier background stories is how Bighead continues to fall ass first into money; and it will only continue to get funnier if it happens yet again.

[Quimby]

@Dewey_Finn

Erlich was only partly responsible for blowing the $20 million that Bighead got. Remember that it was Bighead’s idea to move the in-ground pool and then to move it back. We were never told how much that cost, but it was presumably a lot.

Yeah I think the purpose of that scene was to show Big Head was going to lose all his money either way sooner or later. Money he never really earned by the way.

@friedo

I can confirm for you that Silicon Valley is about half an inch from being a documentary.

If you removed the jokes and made the tone more straight, the story line of this show would be a great corporate drama.

[Skammer]

In case you missed it, just last week on NPR’s Fresh Air Terry Gross interviewed Mike Judge and Thomas Middleditch about Silicon Valley and how closely they mimic some actual tech start-ups that they have visited. It was a great interview.

Fresh Air for June 9, 2016

[EllisDee]

@Dewey_Finn

FYI, here’s an article from The New Yorker about how precisely the show skewers Silicon Valley.

This was a funny bit:

The show’s signature gag, from the first season, […] was set at TechCrunch Disrupt, a real event where founders take turns pitching their ideas, “American Idol”-style, to an auditorium full of investors. Before writing the episode, Judge and Berg spent a weekend at TechCrunch Disrupt, in San Francisco. […] After the scene aired, viewers complained about the lack of diversity in the audience. Berg recalled, “A friend of mine who works in tech called me and said, ‘Why aren’t there any women? That’s bullshit!’ I said to her, ‘It is bullshit! Unfortunately, we shot that audience footage at the actual TechCrunch Disrupt.’”

[Sherrerd]

@Dewey_Finn

The homeowner is Erlich Bachman and I seem to remember that his business acumen has been useful to Richard more than once. Wasn’t he the one who noticed that the data compression algorithm at the heart of Richard’s original business idea was more useful than whatever it was that Richard was trying to develop?

No, it was two of Richard’s fellow (at the time) Hooli employees–they’d pretended to be interested in his ‘find similar melodies’ software just to screw with him, but when they actually looked at it, they noticed the compression capabilities.

@msmith537

… Series creator Mike Judge commonly explores themes around the absurdity of Corporate America, particularly the high tech industry. And he certainly explores them in Silicon Valley (see also: Office Space, Idiocracy). Typically in his work, large corporations and their management are viewed as the “bad guys”. Bureaucratic, greedy, moronic, apathetic institutions callously indifferent to their employees,

Now the show follows the exploits of Richard and his friends as they try to get their tech company, Pied Piper off the ground. …IOW, it’s easy to imagine in ten years, Pied Piper is wildly successful and Richard turns into an eccentric, egotistical, billionaire like Gavin Belson. Or it’s acquired and he turns into Lundberg, an egotistical executive watching his stock climbing half a point.

So far what distinguishes Richard from Gavin Belson and Russ Hanneman (who I think you meant…?), is that Richard is actually interested in creating something that will Be Important, as opposed to being focused on acquiring wealth. Richard would like to acquire wealth, but it’s not what’s driving him to bring Pied Piper to the market.

This seems to the be message about Hooli–Belson isn’t really interested in cultivating the creation of new tech; he’s just into buying tech others create and feeding off it, vampire-style, while quashing rivals. Of course there are obvious parallels with current real-life giants of the industry.

The fact that the Pied Piper company (so far) hasn’t proven to be the ideal employer for any of its engineers isn’t really an indictment of Richard and the others; what they’ve done wrong isn’t as clearly destructive as is what a company like Hooli is shown doing.