What Did an Eye-Opening Trip to California Teach Me About the American Dream?

A visit to California is an eye-opener. The Dutch job market could not be any more different from the American one.

Namely, it is way easier to get funding in the Netherlands for certain projects. That is, when your project or your company is eco-friendly, employee-friendly, and has a societal impact, or just supports some minority.

Therefore, high working culture and societal impact are an important part of any business pitch in the Netherlands. Here in Silicon Valley, on the other hand, I attended a few meetings for entrepreneurs.

I was just very curious how it all works up here. And I was surprised to find out how much different the thinking is.

“First, make your customer happy, and then your workers will be happy too”. This is how people used to think in the Valley. And they are right of course: no company will survive on the market for long without generating massive amounts of profit.

According to Milton Friedman’s (1970) classic essay in The New York Times Magazine, a corporation’s only real social responsibility is to increase its profits. That is, within the rules of open, fair competition.

And, to generate profits, it needs to provide the best product which solves some real-life problems on the customer’s side. And this solution to the problem and its market value should be the core of any business pitch.

How Does Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands Compare to the Bay Area?

This is just rational thinking. I am rather surprised that no one has yet enlightened me about it in the Netherlands. I wonder how a company based on Dutch labor but with an American attitude would perform on the market. 

This could be a good combination, since the Dutch are natural team workers. And they are rather efficient at work, whereas the American working style is more individualistic and disorganized, but concentrates on generating profit much more clearly.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, roughly half of new US establishments still fail within five years.

The next thing I noticed during my stay in California is that when people encounter you, they tend to do two things. Firstly, they ask about your business card.

And secondly, they are proactive in trying to find out who you are. They google your name and search through all the records.

Why Does Your Online Presence Matter in Silicon Valley?

When I was starting to blog twelve years ago, I didn’t have any particular plan to capitalize on my writing. Nor did I plan to make friends in Silicon Valley through this channel. But the reality is: yes, people will read everything they can find, and make their conclusions.

Luckily for me, the conclusions are usually in my favor, yet still, it is sometimes embarrassing. And the truth is these days, the whole package matters in both business and in science. From your sense of humor, through the design of your business card, your Instagram or Twitter activity, to the content of your website.

The business plan alone is only part of the game – visibility online is equally important. According to Leary and Kowalski (1990) in Psychological Bulletin, impression management — actively shaping how others perceive us — depends on two things. How motivated we are to make a certain impression, and how much we actually believe we can control it. 

Of course, this trend has its pros and cons: it generally helps people who have a natural talent for leadership. And a bright personality to stand out.

On the other side though, you have to accept that you are becoming a public figure. You also need to share information about your lifestyle with people whom you have never met before, or whom you have never met in person at all. So far, I did not experience any collateral pain related to networking and socializing.

But I also know that one day, haters will inevitably appear. I need to develop a strong mental corpus for that occasion.

So What Is the Idea Behind the American Dream?

The last thing I would like to mention today is that I now better understand the idea of the American dream. 

In European culture, there are no shortcuts. If you want to become successful, you first need to receive a solid education. Then, you need to work out a great idea, develop a solid  business plan, and find cofounders, advisors, and collaborators. 

You need to then develop a healthy working and personal relationship with your team (which in the Netherlands takes ages, by the way). Then you develop an MVP in order to find funding bodies, gain their enthusiasm and start opening distribution channels. 

It is a slow process, and you cannot just cut through to the top just because you are brilliant. 

Why Do Startups Move Faster in America?

In American culture though, startup projects have a higher dynamic. Everyone can be fired from a job at any time, but also hired at any time.

And sometimes, once you have a good idea, it is enough to find yourself in a good place at the right time. The rest becomes history.

HR people and venture capitalists screen LinkedIn in search of talent all the time. You are free to show your face and present your ideas to anyone at open meetups. From private investors to heads of leading investment funds.

According to Gompers et al. (2020), VCs rank the founding team above product or market when picking deals.

Essentially, even going out in the morning and taking a morning stroll through the city can result in a contract. People just start chatting with you for no reason. 

In Mountain View, I managed to make friends with so many people of different backgrounds within as little as one week! According to Granovetter (1973), such loose new ties are exactly where opportunities flow from.

I wonder what my life would look like if I spent a few months or years here. Might be interesting to try.