"Crossing the Rubicon" & "100 True Fans"
Welcome to the first issue of the Silicon Valley Glossary newsletter. In this newsletter, you'll find the hottest terms being bandied about in the valley so you can successfully eavesdrop on any conversation in whatever SOMA coffeeshop you happen to be sitting in.
Terms are sorted by the level of insider knowledge (signal value) you can demonstrate by using the term. As with anything in SV, there's a rate of decay in the value of the term as the knowledge spreads but rest assured I’ll be keeping you updated and informed as time goes on.
"Crossing the Rubicon" (Signal Value: High)
According to Bloomberg, "The board consensus was that [Treasury Secretary Gary] Cohn wasn’t well rounded enough to lead the firm. “We’d talk about how we’d ‘crossed the Rubicon’ and he wouldn’t know what we were talking about,” says a former Goldman board member." This quote was taken from a story describing how Goldman partners secretly looked down on Gary Cohn during his time there because of his lack of awareness of Roman history.
Crossing the Rubicon refers to the event wherein Julius Cesear broke hundreds of years of Roman tradition by bringing his standing army across the river Rubicon and into the city of Rome. Doing so was tantamount to declaring war on the state and ever since the phrase crossing the Rubicon refers to anyone who makes a decision from which there can be no return.
Don't get judged for your lack of classical history knowledge, memorize this one and move on.
Example Usage:
"Wow Neal, Epic Games really crossed the Rubicon when they added their own payment method to Fortnite and sued Apple."
“100 True Fans” (Signal Value: Medium)
Kevin Kelly authored an essay in 2008 which popularized the idea that you only needed 1000 true fans who were willing to spend $100 a year on whatever product or service you were offering in order to make a living. This was written in the early innings of the passion economy when sites like Patreon and Kickstarter were just starting out.
Today, the maturation of the passion economy allows any influencer with a pulse to publish a course, e-book (such as this one), or offer consulting services. A16Z cleverly inverted the common refrain and the new phrase is: "creators need to amass only 100 True Fans—not 1,000—paying them $1,000 a year, not $100".
Example Usage:
"Hey Coco, can you help me monetize my Youtube channel?
"Sure thing Ryan. All you have to do is identify your 100 true fans and then direct them to your OnlyFans account!"
