Week 8 EOC Silicon Valley Season Finale

Picking up right where we left off last week, the gang was at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference receiving an apology by one of the representatives and getting the information that they were moved to the finals of the conference. It’s always good to have a lawyer to insure that any damages that were not going to affect the outcome of the contest or influence investors to perceive Pied Piper negatively. “You’ll have to pay for any legal advice, but entering into a bad … agreement can be a lot more expensive (and stressful) than a lawyer’s fees.” (108) The people at Hooli did a great job at standing out from the crowd and even made use of the common saying that “Size Matters.” That may have been ill advised, but it was well received. It was after the Nucleus presentation that many of the members of the Pied Piper team got nervous. Gilfoyle and Dinesh try jumping ship and joining Kerpy and the CEO told them that Kerpy was about to go broke and he asked if Pied Piper might be hiring. Jared gets it in his head that Pied Piper needs to “pivot” their priorities and maybe figure out what the business could do instead of what they’ve already been doing. “The goal is to balance their needs and priorities as effectively as possible,” (63) Jared proceeds to survey strangers, looking and sounding more deranged each time, and eventually gets detained by police when he appeared to be interested in kidnapping a child. Erlich tries to get inside Gavin’s head by interrupting an interview by saying that some made up stories had no base in truth, but if they were it would be pretty damning for Hooli. The physical toll of the presentation is nearly killing Richard, but when the group gets together they end up brainstorming about some nonsense and Richard is inspired to change the program. “…when creativity is the top priority—during new-product brainstorming, for instance—free-rein management would probably work best.” (261)  After feverishly working all night, Richard pulls it off and Pied Piper is better than ever. They blow the competition away at the conference. 

Week 7 EOC Silicon Valley Episode 7

Episode 7 focused on the events leading up to Pied Piper's presentation at TechCrunch. At the beginning and throughout the episode Richard isn't handling the stress and anxiety that he is putting himself through. The presentation isn't ready, the booth they have only has brochures (commonly used as trash fodder), and the whole thing seems to be heading for a disaster. Jared seems to be going through a mental break down and not adjusting well after returning from Peter's Robot Island. Then Jared isn't help accountable for the preparation and execution prior to TechCrunch, but nobody seems to care. Erlich does the right thing once they get to the conference and leaves the herd behind to go networking. “Excellent communication and networking skills” (268) Richard runs into Big Head and gets thrown off balance when he is told that a woman he used to date is telling everyone that Richard is obsessed with her. Proving her right, by then obsessing over her telling people and he doesn't stop focusing on her, when he should be working on finishing the presentation. Richard isn't the only one distracted either. “The company actively gathers data and pursues a connection with customers who initiate contact.” (190) Working a convention floor to connect should be a priority. Denish falls for a girl that used Gilfoyle to write a code, that Denish finds very attractive. Erlich is worried that a judge won't treat Pied Piper fairly because of his experience of adultery with his previous wife, so he goes to fix it and ends up affair with the judge's new wife. “Protection from corruption and unfair competition is another entrepreneurial ‘must.’” (304) The only thing that anyone does right is Richard showing appreciation for the long-suffering Jared. Also Erlich wanting to have the presentation unique and outstanding compared to the hundreds of almost exactly the same presentations by startup tech companies.

EOC Week 6 Silicon Valley Episode 6

Episode 6 centers on the Pied Piper team's hiring of an outside consultant to move the company's infrastructure to the cloud — something Richard just doesn't understand how to do. “The best strategies still aren’t clear, but forward- thinking firms tend to experiment with new approaches.” (265) The consultant is a teenage wunderkind named Kevin — known by his online alias "The Carver" — a black-hat hacker who once supposedly took down Bank of America's system. It was a good idea to hire someone that can do specialty work that no one else in the company can do.  Richard's tense interactions with Kevin provide some of the episode's best moments, especially when the younger upstart shoots looks of derision and unblinking judgment at the less-young upstart. Richard’s body language suggests that is uncomfortable and upset with the situation. “Even if your words are inviting, the wrong body language can alienate and distract your audience…” (75) Denish’s body language telegraphs that he is normally comfortable and Erlich’s is way too comfortable and flirtatious.  It's also ultimately satisfying to see Kevin crash and burn so hard, after Richard — cowed into groupthink by his teammates — allows the teenager to access Pied Piper's DDL. Leaving The Carver with access to the work that he isn’t supposed to be in charge of was a terrible mistake on Richard’s part. It was a good idea to ask for help, but a terrible mistake to leave him unsupervised. “The best way to combat equity issues is through clear, open communication from management.”  (252) Now after Kevin destroys the system he needed his prescription of Adderall, but Jared was locked in an automated car headed to an island of robots. So Richard tries to buy some drugs off of the kinds in the neighborhood. Participating in illegal activity is unethical for a business.

Week 5 EOC Silicon Valley Episode 5

Logo design is an important part of any brand's identity. Erlich hired someone with a criminal background, that would design a logo that would make it unique and "edgy." However, Erlich makes some racially offensive statements, not wanting to further offend he doesn't correct Chuy when he assumes that Dinesh was Latino. Erlich then adds salt to the wound by not consulting Jared about hiring Chuy to do the graffiti logo design and using their limited funds on frivolous expenditures. 

"But beyond legal requirements, companies have a number of additional responsibilities to investors. Spending money wisely would be near the top of the list." (66) Richard doesn't acknowledge his lack of business acumen and ignores the advice that is given by Jared, who actually knows something about running a business. Richard and Erlich both act without thinking through the consequences and letting others act in response instead of taking responsibility. This makes Jared understandably frustrated and he tries to handle this professionally, but the rest of the team at Pied Piper don't respect Jared. Everyone there does not communicate effectively or constructively. "The goal is a greater level of mutual respect through open communication, information sharing, and training." (14) Jared uses Dinesh and Gilfoyle's rivalry to his advantage. To manage corporate tasks and prevent redundancies, by having the programmers compete to finish goals instead of working on the same thing by themselves. The scrum flowchart allows for accomplishment and a base for everyone to work on. When Richard is confronted about signing up for TechCrunch and is told that Hooli’s Nucleus is planning on announcing its release, he wants to back out. “Protection from corruption and unfair competition is another entrepreneurial ‘must.’” (7) Monica convinces him to stay. Nobody seems to care about the ramifications of business decisions made by stake-holders

Week 4 EOC Silicon Valley Valley Episode 4

It was a rough episode of Silicon Valley for Pied Piper. Not only was Richard not able to explain their business plan to anyone even Peter Gregory’s nonchalant lawyer, the other programming engineers couldn’t either. The party that they went to was a missed opportunity to network. “An exceptional network of wise and educated mentors can make all the difference, especially to a young entrepreneur with less experience.” (114) They could not even identify what the goal was for the company or anything even remotely close to what future they see for Pied Piper. I know a few introverted computer nerds and I find it hard to believe any of them can’t carry a conversation like the dorks the main characters are made out to be. “Words can communicate biases that can interfere with your message, alienate your audience, and call your own character into question.” (80) Then Richard drunkenly agrees to have Erlich as a board member. Later on, Jared and Richard were writing an executive summary of Pied Piper without knowing the proper and full details of the business plan that would be needed to write a summary. “A business plan does provide an invaluable way to keep you and your team focused on success.” (121) Richard and Jared go to meet with Peter Gregory once again to explain what the company is, but Richard freaks out beforehand in the bathroom. Jared helps him get through it -- and even switches pants with him -- but ultimately Richard goes to the meeting with Erlich at his side. Erlich really wows Peter Gregory, and Richard adds Erlich back to Pied Piper’s board. That is where Richard finally went in the right direction. Erlich’s elevator introduction brought Pied Piper to a place where they could finally qualify what their business is.

Week 3 EOC: Silicon Valley Episode 3 Rights and Wrongs

Watching Silicon Valley this week, there are a bunch of things what went wrong throughout the episode, but the boys at Pied Piper did a few things write. Throughout the industry it seems like in order to be huge in Silicon Valley you need to have an equal sized or even larger ego. The since of importance that come off characters like Gavin Belson and Erlich Bachman is astonishing, but I’m sure that is the point. Another issue that came up was that the Pied Piper name was already registered with another company, so Richard still couldn’t cash the check that Peter Gregory wrote to Pied Piper. Erlich was right when he said that a name defines a company, although he did say it needs to be something you can say as one climaxes during coitus (debatable point). When Richard goes out to make sure that the Original Pied Piper doesn’t have any issues with the new company using the same name, Richard didn’t have the agreement signed on a legal document. As the ancient Chinese proverb states, “The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory” and ”… if you contract … company …, that firm must comply or face legal consequences.” (9)  While Richard was trying to get the rights to the name, the rest of the company was brainstorming ideas for a different name. “Never accept or be too comfortable with the status quo, because the companies that get into trouble are historically the ones that aren’t able to adapt to change and respond quickly enough.” (261) These words from Tony Hsieh ring true in this case as solving a problem needs a creative solution. The final lesson from this episode, was not to buy anything extra, like a margarita machine, without the proper funds. 

Week 2 EOC: Silicon Valley Episode 2 Rights and Wrongs

First I will discuss what Pied Piper has done wrong, and then I'll talk about what they did right.

-          Erlich Bachman hired adult entertainment for a company event. Essentially setting the tone for a questionable working environment.  “Very generally, “sexual harassment” describes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” (AAUW)

-          Not having a business plan when going to meet with Peter Gregory, then stumbling around and not being able to explain what the company does. “Hope for the best and plan for the worst.” (page 114) Richard hoped for everything and planned for nothing.

-          I considered Richard’s dilemma with keeping “Big Head” on the team or not was handled poorly. He was a member of the group, maybe not as important, but he has important information that could be dangerous if he was to be bought to work for the competition (which he later was).

-          -The biggest mistake in this episode happened at the end when Richard went to cash Peter Gregory’s check and didn’t realize he needed to have a corporate identity, licensing, or something to make Pied Piper an actual business.

What they did right:

-          Bringing Jared in to audit the assets and identify what it is that each member of the “team” does. Evaluating each other’s contribution instead of having extra people or redundancies when presenting the business plan to Peter Gregory.

-          Hiring Jared was a huge step in the right direction, because of his knowledge of how businesses need to work.

“Owners with limited liability may lose their investment in the company, but their other personal assets are protected.”(page 91) Richards biggest challenge was what to do with his company, how to handle it, present it to potential investors, and if he should keep his friend involved.  Big Head became a liability when he was hired by Hooli to work on their mock of Pied Piper’s programming.