A Decade of Startup Tours and the Evolution of Technology

AMD's sloping roof helps collect rainwater for irrigation.

AMD's sloping roof helps collect rainwater for irrigation.

These days, when I visit startups and even giant corporate campuses, green design and building features get star billing. I am increasingly hearing about reflective roofs, gray water systems and even non-VOC paints on my tours. All of which has made me realize that green is the new server closet.

Let me explain. When I first started touring tech startups back in 1999 and 2001 (I took a one-year break in between to cover bonds), the server room was an essential stop. Sometimes the machines took up an entire, glass-encased room, replete with green and red (and sometimes the fancier blue) blinking lights, while other times times they were tucked away in a closet. Regardless, it was invariably pointed out to the visiting journalist.

After the dot-com bubble burst, while things may not have been as fancy (good-bye Aeron chairs), open cubicles and open floor plans were relatively cheap, and all the rage and as such, the common talking point on most of my tours. Then came the resurgence of ping-pong tables as a necessary stop. But these weren’t tucked away in a corner — they were in game rooms with arcade games, air hockey and some vending machines. It was less plush than the rooms shown off during the bubble years, but still nicer than any corporate environment. And now in this time of relative thrift, green has become the new tech startup touchstone.

I think in many ways these trends showcase the growth and concerns of the technology industry. I was initially shown the backend equipment because at the time, that’s what helped to distinguish a Web 1.0 tech startup. It was a visible symbol of such a business that usually consisted of offering services based on invisible bits and bytes. As the world grew comfortable with this invisible world of digital data, the need to show us the physical manifestation of that world faded. Plus, hosting was getting to be a lot cheaper.

During the bust, technology startups still needed to prove their attractiveness by showing how collaborative they were — unlike the traditional hierarchy at Fortune 500 businesses. Like the web, these startups wanted to be open. They also needed to attract talent after taking a big fall. That rejection of the corporate status quo, and the desire to attract talent, later turned to an emphasis on fun. The crushing hours it takes to build a company was a badge of pride, but having a video arcade and espresso machines helped, too. The emphasis on fun rarely achieved the spectacular highs seen during the late 90s, but the good times were back and dutifully showcased for the media.

Now the idea of gourmet restaurants on campuses, or startup employees goofing off in front of a vintage Pac-Man game, are quaint at best. The economic crisis, global warming and the realization that technology is an energy hog may be why I’m learning just as much about a startup’s carbon footprint as I am about its technology. No matter what trend emerges next, I’m grateful for the chance to have seen and talked to so many companies over the years. And hey, maybe one day I’ll get my own Aeron chair.

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