I wasted 40 minutes of my life last night watching the first episode. The basic rundown as I understood it: lots of rich kids trying to do "startups," partying, driving fancy cars, and generally being ostentatious and silly.

I'm trying to figure out if there's anything redeeming about this? At all? Even if you haven't seen it, how bad do you think this is for the tech startup industry and is it the true mark of the top of this cycle?

Haven't seen it. Not really planning to... But I bet I eventually will.

As to whether we're at the top of this cycle or not...debatable (personally, yeah I think we probably are...possibly even in that moment at the top of the roller coaster juuuuuust before it tips down).

Hollywood/TV/Magazines etc are starting to take notice of tech (see: bit.ly) but that's not what's going to make or break this cycle.

I do think the kind of attention this draws to the startup ecosystem is more harmful than helpful however. I still want to be an industry perceived as a place to go in spite of your career growth plans rather than because of it :)

It feels like a "jump the shark" moment but it's not. It is a fact that "doing a startup" has replaced "producing an independent film" as "cover job" for the young idle rich, but it's more of a semi-permanent change than a topping out point.

It means more chaff and less wheat on the investment front, and likely more gatekeepers (Y-Comb is like the CAA of startups in that regard).

Sam, BOOM, what a line!

To play devil's advocate, I think it's silly to think of what we do as a defined/isolated "industry" or "ecosystem" anymore. The Internet is changing every industry and, thus, there will continue to be more and more startups, of all shapes and sizes. And I think that's largely a good thing.

So when I hear about a show like this I don't think, "ugh, this is so bad for the startup industry," as much as I think, "man, I'm glad we were able to find the great people in this industry (at Obvious, Betaworks, etc.)" There will be class acts AND douches just like there are in any profession. My Dad's a lawyer but I know he doesn't associate with most lawyers that you see portrayed in films and on TV.

That being said, I definitely don't think there's anything redeeming about the show... but it's on Bravo. Who's going to take it seriously? I'm not sure wives are pumped up about the Real Housewives of Atlanta, but everyone knows it's at the far end of the spectrum because it's on Bravo. So in the end, I don't think it'll have much negative impact. In fact, I'd venture to guess a large, large chunk of their viewership will come from curious folks we know :)

I was an entertainment lawyer when Bravo launched with jazz and independent film! Seriously, though, the digital business has a certain glamor and people like to watch and read about it. It means more BS, but it also tends to lead to higher company valuations than, say, the paper cup business: importers.com. There is also more intrinsic rationality than the entertainment industry, and generally smaller budgets, so I don't think we will see the excess of the movie, music or fashion businesses.