Martin MayOct 26
Anil Dash
So much of what's wrong with tech started from one simple phenomenon: focusing on the money-movers instead of people who actually *make* shit. Real technology matters. Inventors over investors, every time. Founders over funders. Writing code > writing checks. https://www.anildash.com/2025/10/24/founders-over-funders/
Founders Over Funders. Inventors Over Investors.

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Anil Dash
Oct 24 at 9:56pmWeb
Show threadwilliam.maggosOct 24

@anildash

that's capitalism. CEOs and the stock market vs main street and labor. make ever more profit instead of ensuring that people can buy your stuff and society thrives.

Show threadChad GeidelOct 24
@anildash I've thought "The Valley" has had a rot in it WRT Venture Capital for a long time. Thank you for expressing this so clearly and succintly.
Show threadAnil DashOct 24
@chadgeidel glad it was useful for you! Trying to write more stuff that frames things in ways that other people can use in their work or careers.
Show threadBruce ElrickOct 24

@anildash
I associate 'founders' with Y-Combinator and the whole startup tech-bro grow-to-oligarchy model.

I wonder if, instead of founders, we could use a term like 'creators'? If you need a concept that includes control, then perhaps add 'owners' (with all the baggage of proprietarian systems).

So Creators, Owners and Financiers? A creator that is an owner is ok. An owner that is a financier is not. A creator that starts thinking like a financier becomes a financier.

Show threadSouprMattOct 25
@virtuous_sloth @anildash Y combinator (and most other VC) goes to the white men who are best at convincing the older white men that they are the “next generation’
Show threadLuke KaniesOct 25

@anildash 100%.

Investors demand that you kiss the ring, that you treat them as if they are some special something, instead of just… a source of money.

It’s just like mortgages in the bad old days. The value of the house and the buyer’s ability to pay did not matter. It was all about personal relationships.

“Playing the game” is totally broken and fundamentally corrupt.

Show threadCainmark Does Not Comply 🚲Oct 25

@anildash

See art, see music.

Show threadtvaughanOct 25
@anildash that’s why they’re called startups and not, you know, businesses
Show thread1337 $#!+ I did thatOct 25
@anildash that is why the money movers are so into their AI wet dreams. But I hasten to say, the AIs do some things...
Show threadAir AdamOct 25

@anildash YES! 👏🏿 You've put into words a feeling that's been nagging me for a while.

There's at least one "tech" podcast I really want to love, but they talk almost exclusively about investment, startups, funding, and mergers. Business, really.

I remember reading about and admiring Steve Wozniak as a child. Fast-forward to adulthood, and all I hear about is Steve Jobs - most people wouldn't even recognise the name of the person who actually created the technology that launched the company.

Show threadJWcph, Radicalized By DecencyOct 25
@anildash This is exactly why I left my job on the investment side last summer & got a new one where my sole focus is helping inventors with their ideas - so that, yes, maybe it can become a business & the inventor can get some income from it, but we don't even have making a startup as our primary goal; we serve inventors who DON'T want that life & help them get a fair licensing agreement instead.
Show threadcognitively accessible mathOct 25
@anildash chaos vs. order muppet theory? Need a balance.
Show threadfuzzyfuzzyfungusOct 25

@anildash I'm not sure if it's a symptom; or if we also need to mention the move away from actually making shit as a cause.

It's a lot easier to get lulled into the VC hagiography when the people writing code are plugging away at 50 different ways to make adtech slightly more awful because it's basically true that it's all fungible finance-paste.

Much easier to be interested in the creator when the creation is interesting, not just possibly profitable.