Silicon Valley is a mecca for any techie. This diffuse region of California, which encompasses nine San Francisco Bay counties, has seen the birth of the world’s greatest technological advances in recent decades. Google, Apple, Meta, Uber, Netflix and thousands of other startups have emerged in this territory, historically linked to military and university innovation.
Being part of this community is a privilege available to few. The level of demand from multinationals and from investors who promote emerging companies, in addition to the high cost of housing (see data on the following pages) make access to this region practically a chimera. Even more so considering the moment the technology industry is going through, plunged into a wave of unprecedented cuts after experiencing years of overrated growth during the pandemic.
However, in Catalonia there are some exceptions, people who have managed to fulfill their American dream. There are no official statistics, but according to data from Acció, the Generalitat’s agency for company competitiveness, some 300 people from Catalonia now reside in Silicon Valley. “Entrepreneurs, investors, employees and technology managers” are the main profiles that the San Francisco Bay area attracts, explains Marc Bonavia, director of innovation at Acció’s office in Silicon Valley, which opened its doors in the eighties with the aim of to facilitate Catalan investment in this territory.
The path to the top of the technology industry is usually carried out through arduous selection processes both in the case of professionals who want to become employees of technology companies and of entrepreneurs who want to launch their startup through the prestigious accelerators (Y Combinator, 500 Startups). Also in the case of professionals who opt for the university as a way of entry (Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon).
“There is also the profile of a professional who tries his luck a little rough, who arrives with his savings and decides to take a risk with his idea,” explains Bonavia, who before being responsible for Acció founded the startup Sitmobile, which was sold in 2015. after 15 years in the market.
Bonavia explains that professionals who decide to take the plunge must keep in mind the culture shock regarding the European ways of doing business. “In the United States, people are measured by the milestones they have achieved in their professional career and not so much by the titles they accumulate on their resume. You don’t want to waste time either. Here the culture of the pitch dominates, a conference that has the objective of presenting the objective of each professional in a very brief way”. In general, society is open and accessible and willing to collaborate, confirm Bonavia and the rest of the professionals interviewed in this report.
“Everyone is willing to listen to you and it’s easy to meet professionals. Every week seems like a tech week: there are events, conferences and cafes that are relatively easy to access. They don’t talk about anything other than technology and business and that’s why it’s hard to disconnect. But that is precisely the great opportunity that Silicon Valley offers, the connection of ideas and people who want to have a great impact in the world”, reasons Anna Piñol, co-founder of the startup Jupiter and investor in the NFX venture capital fund. According to statistics, the population of Silicon Valley is quite diverse on a cultural level, 40% come from abroad, mainly from Asian countries (see graph), while the rest are people born in the United States. Europeans barely represent 8% of professionals in this region, according to the Silicon Valley Indicators portal.
Bonavia warns that the adventure of trying their luck in the Bay Area (it is used as a synonym for Silicon Valley) is not for everyone, nor is it for companies that are preparing to export to the United States. “You have to arrive with the ambition to have a global impact, especially in the case of entrepreneurs, who must think globally and not conquer the market country by country, as is often the case in Europe”, he maintains.
Bonavia adds that if the objective is only to plant a flag in the United States, it is best to land in other less expensive states than California. The same as if startups want to open a subsidiary in the United States to convince North American investors, who normally require their investees to provide business metrics based on the standards of this country.
In fact, the large startups founded in Barcelona that have a presence in the United States concentrate their activity in Delaware, in the case of Travelperk, and in Austin in the case of the Wallbox factory, which at the same time has commercial offices in Silicon Valley. . The rest of the big startups in the city have not yet landed in this country. The American dream is within the reach of few.
