Foreign visitors to Silicon Valley continually mention how willing we are to help, network and connect strangers. We take it so for granted we never even to bother to talk about it. It's the "Pay-It-Forward" culture.
We're all in this together -- The Chips are Down
In 1962 Walker's Wagon Wheel Bar/Restaurant in Mountain View became the lunch hangout for employees at Fairchild Semiconductor. When the first spin-outs began to leave Fairchild, they discovered that fabricating semiconductors reliably was a black art. At times you'd have the recipe and turn out chips, and the next week something would go wrong, and your fab couldn't make anything that would work. Engineers in the very small world of silicon and semiconductors would meet at the Wagon Wheel and swap technical problems and solutions with co-workers and competitors.
We're all in this together -- A Computer in every Home
To read the full, original article click on this link: Steve Blank: The Pay-It-Forward Culture
Author:Steve Blank
