To quote the zen teaching of my friend (and LA radio legend) Vic “The Brick” Jacobs: enlightenment can happen in a moment. And in the penultimate episode of this “Silicon Valley” season, this adage range true for yours truly.
For weeks now — actually, seasons at this point — I’ve been trying to pin down who exactly Hooli CEO “Action” Jack Barker reminds me of in the tech world, and it finally hit me like a thunderbolt on Sunday night: he’s clearly Steve Ballmer 2.0.
If you’ve been following along, you know Barker has been sweating bullets leading up to his maiden voyage at the helm of “Hooli-Con,” Hooli’s annual tech conference. He’s been looking to one-up the recently ousted Gavin Belson — a Steve Jobs-esque parody in his own right.
To mask a product setback, the flamboyant and aggressive Barker looked to save the day by paying an ungodly sum for Keenan Feldsbar’s virtual reality startup (played hilariously by Haley Joel Osment). And as Barker took the stage, the Ballmer comparison crystalized.
And now, treat yourself to this video of the former Microsoft CEO (and current Clippers’ owner) addressing the crowd at an internal company event — especially the final 20 seconds.
Catch it? The “Silicon Valley” writers nailed it — the twist on Ballmer’s “I. Love. This. Company!” routine, the jogging around the stage, the textbook tech guy wardrobe, the haircut, everything. That was masterful.
Of course, once Barker jarred my memory, I realized I’m late to the party. A reddit thread pegged the Hooli exec as Ballmer last year. Still, while they’re both big, balding, in-your-face tech execs, the similarity wasn’t stamped until Barker’s Hooli-Con performance last night.
7 Rad Projects Elon Musk Has Worked On (Photos)
Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.
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Pay Pal
Musk made his initial fortune thanks to PayPal, which he sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. He made a cool $165 million off the deal.
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Tesla Motors
Instead of buying an island and living the high life after the PayPal sell, Musk went to work on getting the world off its dependency on oil. He founded Tesla Motors (now Tesla Inc.) in 2003, taking over an old Toyota-General Motors manufacturing plant in the Bay Area. The slick electric cars can travel 250 miles without a charge and sell for upwards of $100,000. Its "mass" car, the Model 3, is due out in 2018.
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Space X
Perhaps the project most important to Musk is SpaceX. Founded in 2002, the rocket company has worked with NASA on several launches. SpaceX made history when it developed "recycled" rockets that are able to be launched, landed and reused. Even more ambitious, Musk wants to send manned missions to Mars within the next decade... and colonize the red planet.
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Hyperloop
Musk frequently travels back and forth between NorCal and SoCal, and he wants to do it quickly. Enter Hyperloop, where passengers will be put in pods and shot through tubes connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles at speeds of up to 760 miles per hour. Musk sketched the concept in 2013, and it's now being pursued by a group in L.A. full-time.
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Neuralink
Musk is also big on artificial intelligence and hopes to find a way to directly connect humans to machines. That's where his Neuralink comes in. Co-founded by Musk in 2016, the company aims to integrate our minds with AI advancements via chip implants.
Via @nbashaw on Twitter
The Boring Company
The Boring Company aims to alleviate traffic by building an underground network of tunnels. Cars would be able to latch on to giant sleds and zip through tunnels at 125 mph or passengers can take futuristic glass buses if they want.
The Boring Company
SolarCity
Founded by Musk's cousins in 2006, SolarCity is the second-largest provider of solar panels in the USA. Musk owned 22 percent of its shares when Tesla bought-out the company for more than $2.5 billion in 2016.
Tesla Inc.
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The real-life Tony Stark is the poster boy for Silicon Valley entrepreneurship
Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.