29 memes roasting Silicon Valley and its tech-bro culture, chosen by a former valley-dweller

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• Silicon Valley’s existence is, at once, an almost-improbable mash-up of contradictions and the obvious twenty-first century step of American innovation.
• The absurdity of Silicon Valley necessitates a healthy dose of skepticism, and easily makes it a target of satire.
• I lived in Palo Alto for a handful of years, and San Francisco for a stint. My memories now converge as a tableau of farce; so, here are 29 memes roasting Silicon Valley.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

In my mind’s eye, I see University Avenue in Palo Alto littered with Philz coffee cups, rogue boba pearls, and strewn hover boards. A Stanford undergraduate computer science student weeps into their MacBook as their code loops endlessly. Batman-style doors lift up; a tech exec tumbles out of his Model X car and crawls frantically to the nearest electric charging port. Two VC-bros poke their chopsticks at toro at the Palo Alto Nobu and discuss seed funding the Uber-of-vegan-soft-serve that Elon Musk will, most definitely, franchise on Mars. Mark Zuckerberg peers out from a manhole on the street while Jack Dorsey directs traffic around him and recites his tweets from 2006.

I lived in Palo Alto for a handful of years, and San Francisco for a stint. My memories now converge as a tableau of farce, like the above.

In such a historically fertile incubator — where you can succeed beyond known measure or fail spectacularly — the air is fraught. But actually being stressed is taboo, so techies throw themselves at the pseudo-spiritual in the flashiest way possible. Silicon Valley is also one of the hungriest places — for innovation, success, domination, fame —  I’ve ever lived. And it’s also run by bonafide geeks.

Silicon Valley’s existence is, at once, an almost-improbable mash-up of contradictions and the obvious twenty-first century step of American innovation. Its absurdity necessitates a healthy dose of skepticism, and heavy satire.

Here are 29 memes roasting Silicon Valley. 

Will Fischer contributed to the meme-harvesting you see below.

This Jeff Bezos glow-up.

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Amazon CEO @JeffBezos:
1998: “I sell books.”
2017: “I sell whatever I want.” pic.twitter.com/TzCxnu9Yap

This supercut of Mark Zuckerberg evangelizing Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce during his Facebook Live grill sesh.

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Happy Father’s Day to Sweet Baby Ray’s and its son, Mark Zuckerberg pic.twitter.com/yzFxv6fX7N

Gotta catch ’em all, Chadwick: Venture Capitalist.

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When AI couldn’t get on Magritte’s level.

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AI struggling …love this , seen on @samim twitter profile picture pic.twitter.com/up61QCYQAV

When Pam knew.

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“Thx Elon”

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When even Drake knows you messed up.

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When the Burners re-enter Silicon Valley.

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When you Juul in your Tesla driving down El Camino, it’s a quick and slippery slope to Juuling 30,000 miles up in the air on your red-eye flight.

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When you whip out your tech-guru Twitter persona.

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VCs in real life: hello

VCs on Twitter: success is a raft made out of tears. obstacles are lovers in disguise. a startup is a wish your heart makes

“Let me chat with my team and circle back,” said every Silicon Valley VC ever.

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Snoop Dogg knows what’s up with the valuation.

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Silicon Valley, the bastion of white male privilege.

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Cap table lookin like pic.twitter.com/pdE2n4dHh1

Where “going public” means …

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Where the algorithm tests fate.

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Where breakups are digitized.

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Bonus points for drinking Soylent while wearing Allbirds and carrying some light reading on successful unicorns too.

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Can’t wait to strap on my North Face vest, lace up my Allbirds, pop open a frosty Soylent, and make sure everybody at the Battery sees me carrying this under my arm as I dismount my scooter. pic.twitter.com/p62CgXktqW

Where the rent is too dang high.

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Where every opportunity is a networking opportunity.

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Where everybody thinks they’re the truffle-sniffing pig of startups.

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(But, don’t even think about that company turning a profit while it’s still private.)

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#StartupLife

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My tech company has better snacks than yours …

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… but my coworkers leave a lot to be desired.

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In Silicon Valley, you graduate from being a nascent-coder bro donning a quirky, retro Patagonia fleece pullover to a full Coder Bro™️ wearing your startup’s grey, monogrammed Patagonia vest.

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It’s the uniform.

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No, but seriously.

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Patagonia got so sick of being the staple of fintech bros that in April, Buzzfeed News reported that the company was refusing to sell its iconic power vests to some financial firms.

“Patagonia has nothing against your client or the finance industry, it’s just not an area they are currently marketing through our co-brand division,” a Patagonia reseller wrote to a potential client, according to Buzzfeed News. “While they have co-branded here in the past, the brand is really focused right now on only co-branding with a small collection of like-minded and brand aligned areas; outdoor sports that are relevant to the gear we design, regenerative organic farming, and environmental activism.”

Does Market Street have a dress code?

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And finally, here’s an “Old Town Road” remix about Old County Road in Palo Alto.

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I got my internship on Old County Road

I’m gonna try to teach myself to code

I got my vape pen in the back

Juul pod is attached

Screen is matte black

Running Logic on my Mac

In the Apple store

You can sell your Porsche

We live in the Valley, we got Tesla right next door

Zuckerberg is always watching

Zucc is always watching

Zuckerberg is always stalking

Zucc is always stalking

Read more: This 20-year-old high school dropout bought $1,000 worth of bitcoin at the age of 12 — now he’s worth $4.5 million

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