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Business Daily: Silicon Success

25/06/2014

Silicon Success

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Silicon Success

Behind the scenes of the high tech successes in Silicon Valley

What does it take to make it in Silicon Valley and ensure the levels of creativity and innovation needed? And once at the top, how does a tech company stay there?

What makes Silicon Valley the world-class innovations hub that it is? Sequioa Capital is one of the most powerful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley and its chairman, Michael Moritz is credited with spotting the potential of many of the biggest names in tech - from Google to Paypal. He believes the secret of Silicon Valley's success is the willingness to be constantly ready to rip up the rulebook, and if necessary destroy what has gone before. Jessica Mah is one case in point. At 20 years old, she was hailed in 2010 as the next youthful genius, set to reinvent e-commerce. Investors gave her a million dollars for her new start-up, In Dinero. She tells us about the ups and downs of that experience. 

And seasoned investor Dan Scheinmann compares the support for talented youth like Jessica to the way European football clubs will pay top dollar for unproven teenage players. We ask talent spotter Kevin Hale, one of Y Combinator's partners, for his insights into start-up success.  And Bruce Katz, vice president of the Brookings Institution and author of a book on the subject, The Metropolitan Revolution, tells us about his vision for the hi-tech cities of the future.

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