{"id":56434,"date":"2020-08-29T18:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/inside-silicon-valleys-doomed-creative-culture\/"},"modified":"2020-08-29T18:29:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T15:29:00","slug":"inside-silicon-valleys-doomed-creative-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-silicon-valleys-doomed-creative-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"#Inside Silicon Valley\u2019s doomed creative culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Inside Silicon Valley\u2019s doomed creative culture<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n In 2014, John Roa was at a professional high point. His company, Chicago-based \u00c4KTA, a high-end mobile design and development consultancy, had just been included in the latest Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States. It put them in the stratosphere of past recipients like Microsoft, Jamba Juice and Oracle.<\/p>\n

Roa, the company\u2019s CEO, along with co-founder Kevin Lerash, were flown to Phoenix, Ariz., for the annual Inc. 500 awards ceremony and gala.<\/p>\n

But before making it to the big event, Roa, who was just 30 at the time, decided to blow off some steam. As he details in his new memoir, \u201cA Practical Way to Get Rich .\u2009.\u2009. and Die Trying\u201d (Viking), out Sept. 8, he and Lerash set out for a night of debauchery that involved endless bottles of tequila, a $20,000 tab at a strip<\/a> club and vague memories of being attacked by an angry man carrying a shotgun.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the first time he and his partner had nearly sabotaged their success with booze, strippers and bad decisions, and it wouldn\u2019t be the last. But it\u2019s only recently that Roa has given serious introspection into why.<\/p>\n

\u00c4KTA, which he\u2019d co-founded in 2011, was attracting major clients like Motorola Solutions and Exelon and its sales had grown by 1,147 percent in just a few years. But the truth, writes Roa, is that he was \u201cscared out of my mind about what I was doing every day. Despite the outward success of the business, I was all too aware of what we were really building: a locomotive with no brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roa knew this wasn\u2019t something he could share with the world. \u201cI couldn\u2019t admit in an interview that I was starting to struggle mentally,\u201d he writes, \u201cor that I felt as if, even now, I didn\u2019t know what I was doing. They wanted an unflapp<\/a>able genius. So that\u2019s what I gave them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roa tells The Post that his behavior was at least partly a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n

\"Despite<\/img>
Tech entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos (from left), Bill Gates and Elon Musk are wildly successful, but others in their business suffer from \u201cimposter syndrome.\u201d<\/span>EPA; AP (2)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEverything we accomplished was earned and deserved,\u201d he says. \u201cBut in my head, it felt fake, it felt fraudulent. I was ready for the whole thing to fail. When the whole thing burned down, and I just figured it was only a matter of time, I could use this as an excuse. It was because of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s far from the only successful entrepreneur who\u2019s struggled with self-doubt and self- destructive behavior. Psychiatrist Michael A. Freeman released a groundbreaking study in 2015 which found that 72\u2009percent of entrepreneurs had some form of self-reported mental-health concerns.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re twice as likely as the general<\/a> population to suffer from depression, three times more likely to struggle with substance abuse and ten times more likely to have bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

Roa wondered why.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is the suicide rate among youth in Silicon Valley four times the national average?\u201d Is it just a coincidence, or at the core of what makes a true entrepreneur?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat separates us from normal people?\u201d he writes. \u201cAre we really as crazy as we seem? Or is it the current culture of entrepreneurship that forces us to do crazy things to succeed?\u201d<\/p>\n

I felt as if \u2026 I didn\u2019t know what I was doing. They wanted an unflappable genius. So that\u2019s what I gave them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0–\u00a0Former tech CEO John Roa <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the last century, the average American didn\u2019t really aspire to become the next Henry Ford or John D. Rockefeller. Those entrepreneurs seemed like members of a different species. But in today\u2019s start-up culture, it\u2019s easy to think anyone could be the next Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. It just takes a great idea and a little bit of luck.<\/p>\n

According to a 2019 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, nearly 16 percent of the US adult population, or roughly 31 million people, identify as entrepreneurs. That\u2019s up from 27 million in 2015.<\/p>\n

Roa didn\u2019t have an upbringing that suggested he might have a future in entrepreneurship. The son of lower-middle-class parents in Detroit \u2014 his father was a union assembly line worker at Chrysler \u2014 he graduated from Grosse Pointe South High with a 2.1 GPA. But by 14, he was running his first business, Onsite Operations, devoted to home-computer repair.<\/p>\n

He went from reselling paintball guns to designing Web sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could trade it, arbitrage it, service it, refer it or distribute it, I was interested,\u201d Roa writes. \u201cEntrepreneurship is a strong drug, and I was clearly a junkie.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t just a hustler. Roa soon learned that he had a talent for creating a user experience. What interested him was \u201cnot design in terms of pretty interfaces and a sleek appliance,\u201d he writes. \u201cBut rather, design that got into deep levels of our collective psyche to determine how we wanted to be connected to the world, talk to friends, browse the Web and consume content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even after founding \u00c4KTA, and as his reputation grew along with his talent, Roa doubted himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would play the role of the impervious young CEO they all wanted to see,\u201d he says. \u201cI would hide my humanity and struggles. I refused to show any sign of what I perceived as weakness. I wanted people to aspire to be me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imposter syndrome isn\u2019t unique to start-up entrepreneurs. Every industry and profession has it, from surgeons to race-car drivers. \u201cNo matter what we\u2019ve done,\u201d Tom Hanks once said, \u201cthere comes a point where you think, \u2018How did I get here? When are they going to discover that I am, in fact, a fraud and take everything away from me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Author<\/img>
Author John Roa\u2019s new book is \u201cA Practical Way to Get Rich \u2026 and Die Trying.\u201d<\/span>Lydia Hirt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But entrepreneurs thrive on this, says Roa. \u201cMy never-\u00adending battle with impostor syndrome actually led me to make a number of great decisions,\u201d he says. \u201cMy fear drove some of the most clever and valuable choices I made. I actually did know exactly what I was doing. I just never allowed myself to believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He landed some of his biggest clients at \u00c4KTA despite having no clue what he was offering or if it was possible to deliver. Roa recalls signing TopGold, a global sports entertainment company, and then calling one of his \u00c4KTA designers and announcing, \u201cI just committed to a load of s\u2013t that admittedly I don\u2019t know anything about. Please for the love of God tell me you know what scalable vector graphics are!\u201d<\/p>\n

His job as an entrepreneur, Roa says, was to live up to the hype he created. \u201cAfter months of telling everyone I was creating the best design agency in Chicago, I started hearing others say that on our behalf,\u201d he writes. \u201cThe only person who couldn\u2019t figure out whether to believe the hype was me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman, who authored the 2015 study on entrepreneurs and mental health, believes that entrepreneurs have more in common than just sadness and addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people don\u2019t have the propensity for entrepreneurship,\u201d he tells The Post. \u201cWhile almost everyone can hold a job and many people can lead a group or a team or an organization, very few people can actually start and grow a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the reason is the actual DNA of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

That propensity for entrepreneurship is 50 percent genetically transmitted, Freeman says. Whether somebody has the potential to create a company from scratch isn\u2019t just about luck or hard work \u2014 it\u2019s baked into their DNA.<\/p>\n

With that genetic ability comes an \u201cincreased vulnerability to a range of mental-health issues that are common among entrepreneurs,\u201d says Freeman. Things like risk tolerance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easier for these people to make the leap than it is for others,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Roa has found this to be true not just with himself. \u201cI\u2019ve become friends with dozens if not hundreds of other entrepreneurs,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a commonality in how our brains work. And it\u2019s not necessarily a good thing. Because of our biology, we\u2019re all a bit f\u2013ked up and crazy. We\u2019re attracted to risk and excess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some have taken the \u201ccrazy\u201d label to an extreme. A 2011 study by psychologist Paul Babiak suggested that one in every 25 CEOs displayed behavior that \u201ctechnically\u201d qualifies them as psychopaths, four times greater than the general population.<\/p>\n

Roa doesn\u2019t agree.<\/p>\n

\"Get<\/img><\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t actually crazy,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of the defining characteristics of a psychopath is a lack of empathy and emotion. We entrepreneurs are generally the opposite \u2014 wildly sensitive and introspective. We need a high level of emotional intelligence to even begin to make it in this game<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do entrepreneurs come into their careers with preexisting mental-health issues, or does the vocation itself deserve some of the blame?<\/p>\n

Freeman believes that entrepreneurship may exacerbate undiagnosed conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver half of them didn\u2019t have any history of mental-health problems before starting their companies,\u201d he says. \u201cThough they may have been more vulnerable than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extraordinary factors, like abruptly losing customers because of a pandemic, could lead to unforeseen mental challenges. Freeman, who created Econa, a wellness and mental-health program designed for entrepreneurs, is currently working on research on the mental-health impact of COVID-19 on entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

For Roa, the pressures of being the hot, young start-up genius are long behind him. He sold \u00c4KTA to software company Salesforce in 2015 for a reported $31 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI basically retired,\u201d says Roa, 36. \u201cI\u2019ve been living on an island in Greece for the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

He admits he\u2019s not sure what he wants readers to take away from his life story. He doesn\u2019t want to discourage up-and-coming entrepreneurs, but he also doesn\u2019t want to over-romanticize that world.<\/p>\n

\u201cEntrepreneurs are notoriously full of sh-t,\u201d Roa says. \u201cWe are endless self-promoters and salespeople. To succeed, you have to make yourself look fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that isn\u2019t what\u2019s happening in their heads, he says. The self-doubt and anxiety can be crippling and scare away those with ambitions of becoming the next Bill Gates.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the crazy ones, the real entrepreneurs, they love that stuff,\u201d Roa says. \u201cThe more you tell us how awful it\u2019s going to be, how it\u2019s a big nightmare that breaks down your spirit and every day you feel like you\u2019re going to be exposed as a fraud, the more they want to do it. We love the pain as much as the reward.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Inside Silicon Valley\u2019s doomed creative culture” In 2014, John Roa was at a professional high point. His company, Chicago-based \u00c4KTA, a high-end mobile design and development consultancy, had just been included in the latest Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States. It put them in the stratosphere of past recipients like…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[61003],"class_list":["post-56434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-inside-silicon-valleys-doomed-creative-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}