The PayPal Mafia as seen in Fortune

I found this article quite interesting (great read on the plane after watching 3 movies and bugging my eyes out!) It goes into some detail about what all the guys originally involved with PayPal are now doing and shows a bit how the Valley (from my perspective here in Europe) ticks. It truly goes to show that it's NOT just about the technology. I keep reminding European entrepreneurs of this. Who you know simply plays such an important role and creating a strong network of experienced and well connected advisors and partners is essential. There are plenty of geeks who can create a great app. Those who have a great app and good connections will always out-execute you though. And yes, you will hire or work together with the one asshole here and there. Yet, if you surround yourself with the best and then filter out the chaffe, it's much better than the other way around. You need to build this "bench" of acquaintances, partners and employees if looking to do the entrepreneurial thing long-term.

We're finally seeing such mafia-like networks (and I mean this positively) appear in Europe. The Samwers have built up a nice little group around themselves as have the Skype guys. Even in Hamburg we're slowly seeing groups appear here and there. There are specific VC's who belong to these cliques and you can clearly see that they are bouncing ideas and investments back and forth amongst themselves. The Valley has this down to an art form. Now we simply need to continue figuring it out in Europe!