Facebook, Google... just Silicon Valley
Oxford, 25 March 2016
Company cultures
Clash of company cultures
The first thing that became obvious to the group when visiting the Valley's big IT companies was the different kind of culture inside those companies compared to "old industries". There is a big difference between the culture in a company from an old industry sector, such as automobile producers, and the culture of those companies, selling IT(-based) products. One one side of the spectrum are old industry companies, which seem to discourage innovative thinking of individuals, because they tend to disturb the inflexible processes of big organisations. But on the other end of the spectrum are companies, which are organised in a very flexible, almost startup-like way. They even encourage their employees to THINK DIFFERENT.
The first thing that became obvious to the group when visiting the Valley's big IT companies was the different kind of culture inside those companies compared to "old industries". There is a big difference between the culture in a company from an old industry sector, such as automobile producers, and the culture of those companies, selling IT(-based) products. One one side of the spectrum are old industry companies, which seem to discourage innovative thinking of individuals, because they tend to disturb the inflexible processes of big organisations. But on the other end of the spectrum are companies, which are organised in a very flexible, almost startup-like way. They even encourage their employees to THINK DIFFERENT.
A walk through Google's and Facebook's campuses
As the group of MBA students takes a tour around the Googleplex, they stop believing what they see: self-driving cars, coloured bicycles to shorten the distances on the vast site, a model of a dinosaur skeleton, and even sports grounds on the companies estate. Furthermore, Facebook even tops this with having an own arcade, where employees can play video games in their work time. These places know that they live of innovations created by their employees. For this reason, they value things that keeps their employee's imagination going.
Everything for free
But, as if this would not be enough, both companies not only give meals for free to their employees, the employees can also use the sports grounds and all other services for free as well. Being asked if they want to eat some free ice cream at Facebook, no one could resist - it's a perfect story to tell your friends, right? Not to mention, that Facebook even has a free valet parking service.
Startups and investors
Clash of investors' philosophies
As Google and Facebook left the days of being small companies already behind, the students were interested in the magic of today's startups in the valley. Firstly, they visited the German Silicon Valley Accelerator, where they got a straight inside in the differences between German and American thinking: "If you pitch your idea to a German investor, they want to know how fast you will be able to pay them back their investment. They want to know if their investment is safe. Is your business able to write black figures soon, then they will invest. On the other hand, American investors will kick you out of the meeting when your business is able to do so. They want you to think big, not to be a safe investment. If your business is writing black figures soon, you are not thinking big enough - you are not focussed on growth."
Part two
This series will continue with more insights on Silicon Valley.
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About this Blog
Splendid Startups is a Blog about real-life entrepreneurship. The blog's goal is to learn from startups and their day-to-day experiences: a startup diary so to speak.
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