When I moved to San Francisco four years ago, I noticed something odd about the start-up founders I met: many of them resembled each other. Not just physically, though most were men under 35. But also in the way they spoke about their companies. They had PowerPoints at the ready, and big numbers on the tips of their tongues. Everyone seemed to know exactly what the total addressable market of their start-up was, even if they hadn’t yet made a single dollar of sales. 

It took a while to identify exactly what was missing. I had moved to the US from China, where Silicon Valley is revered as an innovation paradise, and tech icons such as Steve Jobs have mythical status. But when I compared my new home with my old one, I realised that the Valley was lacking in one core area — a sense of entrepreneurial hustle. In China, many of my friends were entrepreneurs, but I only realised this with hindsight, because none of them described themselves as such. They were architects, teachers or art historians, launching import businesses or travel companies. It just seemed normal for people to be trying out new businesses.

By contrast, while there are a lot of founders in Silicon Valley, I have found relatively few entrepreneurs. The founders are smart and hard-working. But many are simply products of a system, which is why they all seem vaguely the same.