The San Francisco Fallacy

Jonathan Siegel

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THE SAN FRANCISCO FALLACY IS NOT ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO.

Rather, it’s about the herd instincts that drive tech companies to set up shop there, and the mistakes these herd instincts lead to. Most importantly, it’s about how to avoid making these same mistakes yourself.

In The San Francisco Fallacy, serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Jonathan Siegel looks at the 10 biggest fallacies that run through startup culture. Over his many years launching companies, he’s fallen victim to what he now recognizes as a series of common errors, misconceptions that bedevil startups to this day. But he also learned how to sidestep and surmount many of these challenges.

After multiple eight-figure exits and other startup successes, Jonathan began to see the deeper fallacies in which his failures took root. His biggest career successes, on the other hand, seemed to come when he and his teams went against the tide and did everything “wrong.”

This book is an examination of the popular belief system about startups. At its heart is a series of challenges to years of accumulated startup orthodoxy. What emerges is not just a critique but an inspiring call–to anyone trying to build a successful business–for a broader kind of critical thinking.

Jonathan Siegel

Jonathan Siegel is the founder of RightCart, RightSignature, and RightScale. He is chairman and founder of Xenon Ventures, which specializes in the acquisition, acceleration, and exit of high-margin Software as a Service companies. He spent ten years as the founder and CEO of ELC Technologies, a Ruby on Rails consultancy, which was acquired in 2010 by PriceGrabber’s Kamran Pourzanjani. He also has a sideline as the founder of a chain of Irish pubs on the West Coast, Brendan’s. Following the mantra, “If something is important, do it yourself,” he is a patent author, a licensed real estate broker, a licensed contractor, a FAA-certified flight instructor (MEI, CFII fixed wing land), a certified helicopter private pilot, and a certified commercial jet pilot (EA50). He has lived in Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Dublin, and Tokyo with his wife and a growing number of Irish-American children (currently eight).

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