the worst startup logo in history

Silicon Ugh

Hi there,

Since we started CB Insights, there have been two questions people have consistently been fascinated with:

• Are we in a bubble?
• Where’s the next Silicon Valley?

To answer the question about whether we are in a bubble — we’ve been asked this since 2010 — we’ve learned that it’s always a good time to call it a bubble. Always.  

It’s a surefire way to sound smart and contrarian. You know — when others zig, you zag. You crazy tech bubble prognosticating rebel you.

As Dan Gardner details in his great article for Slate (see The Blurb), the Pundit Industrial Complex has realized that the key to making good predictions is to make a lot of them, as people forget when you’re wrong. Heck, there are entire multi-billion dollar asset classes built on this same thesis.

In other words, keep predicting the demise of everything and then write a Medium post about “how you saw it” when one finally hits, and nicely ignore all your misses.

Note that this strategy works with predicting M&A too. Apple should buy Tesla. Google should buy Snapchat. You get it. Whip up every permutation. Publish them all. Get 1 of 100 right, and watch the media interview requests come flying in as you were the one who saw it before everyone else.

The other big question is about where the next Silicon Valley is.

We’ll dig into that below, but first, some data.

The who’s who of tech in Indonesia

We outlined the key players in Indonesia’s startup ecosystem in our periodic table of tech in Indonesia. It highlights startups, investors, and notable exits from recent years.

The next Silicon Valley

Building a tech hub outside of Silicon Valley is a good aspiration. It’s a good thing for governments and communities to want, given that tech is where the world is going.

We covered this recently in our Emerging Startup Frontiers report and in this graphic of non-US unicorns, both of which highlight the potential to build a valuable private tech company anywhere.

What’s interesting (or perplexing) about this noble pursuit is the extreme lengths regions go to in order to try and brand themselves as something “Silicon.”

Here are some of the names regions have adopted (thanks to many of you for submitting via Twitter):

1. Silicon Alley – NYC
2. Silicon Beach – Los Angeles
3. Silicon Prairie – midwest USA
4. Silicon Wadi – Israel
5. Silicon North – Canada
6. Silicon Roundabout – London
7. Silicon Bog – Ireland
8. Silicon Savana – somewhere in Africa
9. Silicon Harbor – Charleston, South Carolina (yes — this is real)
10. Silicon Forest – Portland, OR
11. Silicon Slopes – Utah
12. Silicon Docks – Dublin, Ireland
13. Silicon Fen – Cambridge, UK
14. Silicon Gorge – Bristol, UK
15. Silicon Bayou – New Orleans, LA
16. Silicon Cape – Capetown, South Africa
17. Silicon by the Sea – Lisbon, Portugal
18. Silicon Hills – Austin, TX

Perhaps this is smart, as it immediately brings an association with Silicon Valley, but some of these are so tortured and terrible, I’m not sure they help.

Of course, our initial name was ChubbyBrain (the CB in CB Insights) and our logo was what you see below, so maybe you should do the exact opposite of what we think on branding.

Apple in health care

We analyzed Apple’s strategy in the health space, the types of companies likely to be affected, and what some of its next moves might be.

As medical devices start becoming more enabled by software, Apple’s competency in bundling software and hardware is a major advantage. The company is bolstering its software offering as a whole through a number of recent acquisitions of artificial intelligence companies, seen below. 

Expert research clients can log in and view the entire analysis here.