@brenda.pak — 57x breakout

Loading video…

It's a strange time to be alive in San Francisco.

@brenda.pak

2.3K followers · usually 1.3K views a post

Views

75.4K

Likes

4.3K

Comments

554

544

Why it worked

The video taps into a highly relatable and polarizing cultural narrative about the tech industry, using a strong hook and personal storytelling to drive engagement through comments.

Summary

The creator discusses the extreme wealth disparity in San Francisco between tech workers who have become millionaires and those who have been laid off. She reflects on the existential crisis faced by both groups and asks her audience if they are experiencing similar divides in their own cities.

Structure

1Introduction to the strange social climate in San Francisco
2Contrast between the newly wealthy and the laid off
3Analysis of the massive wealth concentration in AI companies
4Reflection on the misery of the newly wealthy
5Questioning the audience about their own experiences

Call to action

Tell me below.

On-screen text

A millionaire, unemployed guy, broke tech founder...☕ It's a strange time to be alive in San Francisco. Half of my friends quietly became millionaires this year. The other half got laid off. We all still go to the same coffee shop. And it's not just my group chat hallucinating. [Screenshot of a tweet about SF tech wealth] Open AI, and Nvidia are casually sitting on $20 million each. Some of them went from normal salary to 50 mil in three years. They're 30, and they have a finance guy now. Meanwhile, I'm a founder. I'm lighting cash on fire in the most expensive city on earth, building something that actually takes time, while friends on the block raised tens of millions for an AI Tool they made on a Sunday. Then there's everyone else. Middle managers, kids, mortgages. Watching their jobs evaporate. No energy to start a company, no A.I. Skills to pivot. Just watching like the rest of us. Here's the part that broke me, though. The millionaire friends. Miserable. They're in New York, finding themselves or starting companies because Saturdays are long. One of them said, and I quote, if I sell, I'll only have money. Take a moment with that. The entire work hard, you'll make it thing quietly retired this year. Are you feeling this divide in your city, or is this an isolated Silicon Valley nightmare? Tell me below.