First it was The Social Network, the frenetic film about birth of Facebook. ThenThe Internship, a cinematic valentine to Google with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Then a biopic of Steve Jobs starring Ashton Kutcher, then the sitcomBetas from Amazon. Lately, it’s HBO’s Silicon Valley, a very funnysend-up of the Bay Area start-up world from the creator of Beavis and Butt-head.
Meanwhile, in the real Silicon Valley, the unicorns are multiplying. (Unicorns are the breakout stars of the technology start-up world that investors have bid up to valuations of $1 billion or more.) The New York Times reports that over the past 15 months the number of unicorns has doubled to 102. Ten are valued at over $10 billion: Uber, at $40 billion, leads the pack. Other notables: Airbnb, $20 billion; Snapchat, $15 billion. No wonder Hollywood has taken notice.
