There's an insanity raging through San Francisco. { DROP IN HERE } For all I know, its distorting the minds of people in your town too, but here it seems to have expanded beyond all rational expectation. I suppose that's not a shock in a city whose football team is named for the first wave of mass greed... no wonder then that exactly 150 years after the Gold Rush began, another has swept through the Golden Gates. Call it the Internet gold rush... or just plain old capitalism, it has seized control of my friends, collegaues, co-workers, and of course, me.
In its most recent issue, Internet World magazine chronicles the changed lives of some of these new millionaires... most of them courtesy of Virginia-based America Online. They speak of breaking down and crying when they learn -- at age 35 -- that they'll never have to work again. Its the American dream at cable modem speed... everyone I know in the Internet industry wants it to happen to them... and for many provides the very reason why they are here at all.
On sunny days, I have lunch in San Francisco's South Park... a grassy haven at the heart of the city's Internet industry and just a couple blocks from my office... if you sit down near the swings, the overheard conversations oscillate between web site color palattes and intricate calculations of company valuations. Exit strategies, accelerated vesting, venture capital... these are concepts most people... including me... had no clue about before we chucked it all, moved to this outrageously expensive city, and placed our bets on a medium where you can be worth 50 million while your company in 50 million in the red. Its screamingly obvious why so many people have been infected.
I have a friend here in town who is getting her doctorate in psychology... and is helping some amazingly needy people set their lives straight. At dinner the other night she asks, how do I get into this Internet thing?
Meanwhile, down in Silicon Valley, others in her profession are helping option-rich, cash-poor technology workers deal with the wild swings in the value of their company's stock. One day you're worth a million, the next day it could be 2 million... or a pathetic 500-thousand.
Every plane into SFO brings new recruits... and every market opening in New York brings fresh validation that overnight riches can still be had... and while the vast majority of us are not becoming millionaires from the web, we still wake up every morning and check the driveway for the sweepstakes van. It can't possibly be healthy; its naked high-speed greed; its an assault on my idealism; and I can't possibly do anything else.