SF is all new money

@doubleemt

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Why it worked

The video taps into a common perception about wealth and success in tech hubs like SF, using relatable concepts like "new money" and the "smart vs. rich" trope to engage viewers.

Summary

The speaker discusses how San Francisco's wealth is primarily "new money" earned by founders and early employees of successful companies, contrasting it with inherited wealth. This leads to an assumption that wealth equates to intelligence and virtue, a notion challenged by the idea that smart people might not always be rich.

Structure

1SF wealth is new money
2Earned wealth through startups and acquisitions
3Wealth implies intelligence and virtue
4Challenging the smart = rich assumption
5Contrast with inherited wealth

On-screen text

SF is all new money REALLY INTERESTING ABOUT TO CITIES ALMOST HAS NEW MONEY IT BECAUSE FOUNDER EARLY AIRBNB EVEN COMPANY ACQUIRED THOSE THEM A THRESHOLD SMART HIRED STARTUP SMART FOUNDER SMART TO CONFLATION WEALTH VIRTUE MORALITY IF ASSUME BECAUSE HARD AGENCY CONNECTED DESERVED WINDFALL TO ASSUMPTION LIKE WHY OUT STUPID CERTAIN SF IF OSTENSIBLY BEEN WHILE YOU'VE TO THINGS CREATING FOR NEW YORK LA DEFINITELY BABIES IF PICK PERSON WAY EARNED INHERITED MONEY

Original caption

and I just think that’s really special . #newmoney #techmoney #sftech #techstartups #nepobaby #sf #nyc

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Transcript

SF is all new money. Really interesting about SF compared to other major cities is almost everyone who has money is new money. And their new money because they earned it themselves. Because they're an exited founder, or they were early at Airbnb, or they weren't even that early, but their company got acquired. And all those things required them to be above a threshold of smart. Like, you don't get hired at an early startup unless you're smart. You don't exit as a founder unless you're smart. So all that leads to a certain conflation of wealth with virtue, with morality. If you have money, people assume that it's because you were such a hard-working and high-agency, well-connected, well-deserved person that you deserved your windfall. And it also leads to the assumption. You know this meme, like, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich? Turns out you're fucking stupid." Like, there is a certain amount in SF if you're ostensibly a smart person who's been grinding for a while, where's your money? You've either been choosing to work on the wrong things or you're not creating enough surface area for luck. Compared to New York, LA, definitely SF has, like, babies. If you close your eyes and pick a random rich person in SF, it's way more likely that they earned, instead of inherited their money. Money.