I wrote a snarky (and not very deep) song one night back in 2002 or so after hanging out with some oh-so-hip acquaintances: you're so cool I want to be near you I want to be just like you where'd you get those shoes Everything they did or said projected how cool they were (or wanted to be; I stopped hanging out with them at just about that moment). have hipsters lightened up corporate life? You know what it's like--it's everywhere these days, it seems. Makes me long for the Mennonite kids I went to church with when I was young. You're Not Cool. Yet. I'm noticing a lot of seed- and early-stage startups using marketing language designed to tell us how cool they are. Claims of greatness. Or simplicity. Or bravado, like look out world, here we come . I used to do it too. You should stop it. Say it to yourselves, among friends, occasionally. But the reality is you aren't great yet. And it's not about you. It's about th
Charlie Crystle writes about startups, startup ecosystems, tech, food systems, and random things.