How Did Big Tech Really Get So Big?
From InGenius.
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How 4 short pages built the modern tech world. Kindly sponsored by Incogni. They can't harm you if they can't find you! Use code InGenius at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/InGenius
Developed by the team behind @veritasium, InGenius is a new channel dedicated to surprising human stories about global systems and how the world works.
Watch Veritasium’s video on Power Laws here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBluLfX2F_k
For more content follow us on our social media accounts:
Instagram - https://in49.s.gy/Instagram
TikTok - https://in49.s.gy/TikTok
FaceBook - https://in49.s.gy/FaceBook
X - https://in49.s.gy/X
Spotify - https://in49.s.gy/spotify
▀▀▀
0:00 The worst boss in history?
4:17 Arthur Rock - The Father of Silicon Valley
7:59 The First Ever Venture Capital Deal
10:20 The Traitorous Eight
16:35 The Rock Memo
23:26 The Founding of Intel
27:27 How Venture Capital Relies on Power Laws
30:51 How Silicon Valley Created Entire Industries
35:50 What is ensh*ttification?
40:34 The Problems With Big Tech
▀▀▀
Special thanks to our interviewees for their time and expertise:
Prof Robert Bartlett (Law and Business, Stanford Law School)
Sebastian Mallaby (Author, The power law: venture capital and the making of the new future)
Dr Henry Lowood (Curator, Silicon Valley Archives, Stanford University Libraries)
Dag Spicer (Senior Curator, Computer History Museum)
Elizabeth Jones (Historian and Museum Director, Intel)
Dr Bill Janeway (Author, Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy & Distinguished Affiliated Professor, Cambridge University)
Prof Ilya A. Strebulaev (Finance, Stanford Graduate School of Business)
Catherine Bracy (Author, World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy; Founder and CEO of TechEquity)
Benjamin Shestakofsky (Author, Behind the Startup)
Additional thanks to Prof Ilya Strebulaev, Iana Pavlovskaia and Rustam Abuzov for providing advice and consulting on the script.
Huge thanks to Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University, the Computer History Museum and the Intel Museum, for their expertise, filming and access to their collections.
▀▀▀
References:
Geller, D., & Goldfine, D. (Directors). (2011). Something Ventured [Film]. Miralan Productions.
Mallaby, S. (2022). The power law: Venture capital and the making of the new future. Penguin Press.
Lécuyer, C., & Brock, D. C. (2010). Makers of the microchip: A documentary history of Fairchild Semiconductor. MIT Press.
Berlin, L. (2005). The man behind the microchip: Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley. Oxford University Press.
Bartlett, R., & Grundfest, J. (2023). Arthur Rock's Intel memo: The Magna Carta of venture finance. Stanford Lawyer. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from in49.s.gy/ArthurRockSIntel
InGenius. (2026). Combined market capitalisation of Fairchild-lineage technology companies [Data set; author’s calculations based on CompaniesMarketCap and Crunchbase data]. http://in49.s.gy/CombinedMarketCap
The rest here: https://in49.s.gy/SVReferences
Visual references: https://in49.s.gy/SV-VisualRefs
▀▀▀
Writer, Producer & Director: Tom Heyden
Presenter: Latif Nasser
Editors: Spencer Wright & Tom Heyden
Camera Operators: Jesse Chandler, Wingel Buendia & Tom Heyden
Technical Animators: Little Shadow
Historical Illustrator & Art Director: Maria Gusakovich
Historical Illustrator: Caine Esperanza
Historical Animator: Arturo Bravo Peña
Researcher: Naomi Dinmore
Designers: Ben Powell, Dan Ellacott
Thumbnail Designers: Daniel Ellacott, Patryk Ziolkowski, Ren Hurley & Ben Powell
Production Team: Katy Southwood, Anna Milkovic, Matthew Cavanagh, Josh Pitt & Christian la Brijn
Executive Producer: Zoe Heron
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound
Developed by the team behind @veritasium, InGenius is a new channel dedicated to surprising human stories about global systems and how the world works.
Watch Veritasium’s video on Power Laws here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBluLfX2F_k
For more content follow us on our social media accounts:
Instagram - https://in49.s.gy/Instagram
TikTok - https://in49.s.gy/TikTok
FaceBook - https://in49.s.gy/FaceBook
X - https://in49.s.gy/X
Spotify - https://in49.s.gy/spotify
▀▀▀
0:00 The worst boss in history?
4:17 Arthur Rock - The Father of Silicon Valley
7:59 The First Ever Venture Capital Deal
10:20 The Traitorous Eight
16:35 The Rock Memo
23:26 The Founding of Intel
27:27 How Venture Capital Relies on Power Laws
30:51 How Silicon Valley Created Entire Industries
35:50 What is ensh*ttification?
40:34 The Problems With Big Tech
▀▀▀
Special thanks to our interviewees for their time and expertise:
Prof Robert Bartlett (Law and Business, Stanford Law School)
Sebastian Mallaby (Author, The power law: venture capital and the making of the new future)
Dr Henry Lowood (Curator, Silicon Valley Archives, Stanford University Libraries)
Dag Spicer (Senior Curator, Computer History Museum)
Elizabeth Jones (Historian and Museum Director, Intel)
Dr Bill Janeway (Author, Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy & Distinguished Affiliated Professor, Cambridge University)
Prof Ilya A. Strebulaev (Finance, Stanford Graduate School of Business)
Catherine Bracy (Author, World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy; Founder and CEO of TechEquity)
Benjamin Shestakofsky (Author, Behind the Startup)
Additional thanks to Prof Ilya Strebulaev, Iana Pavlovskaia and Rustam Abuzov for providing advice and consulting on the script.
Huge thanks to Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University, the Computer History Museum and the Intel Museum, for their expertise, filming and access to their collections.
▀▀▀
References:
Geller, D., & Goldfine, D. (Directors). (2011). Something Ventured [Film]. Miralan Productions.
Mallaby, S. (2022). The power law: Venture capital and the making of the new future. Penguin Press.
Lécuyer, C., & Brock, D. C. (2010). Makers of the microchip: A documentary history of Fairchild Semiconductor. MIT Press.
Berlin, L. (2005). The man behind the microchip: Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley. Oxford University Press.
Bartlett, R., & Grundfest, J. (2023). Arthur Rock's Intel memo: The Magna Carta of venture finance. Stanford Lawyer. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from in49.s.gy/ArthurRockSIntel
InGenius. (2026). Combined market capitalisation of Fairchild-lineage technology companies [Data set; author’s calculations based on CompaniesMarketCap and Crunchbase data]. http://in49.s.gy/CombinedMarketCap
The rest here: https://in49.s.gy/SVReferences
Visual references: https://in49.s.gy/SV-VisualRefs
▀▀▀
Writer, Producer & Director: Tom Heyden
Presenter: Latif Nasser
Editors: Spencer Wright & Tom Heyden
Camera Operators: Jesse Chandler, Wingel Buendia & Tom Heyden
Technical Animators: Little Shadow
Historical Illustrator & Art Director: Maria Gusakovich
Historical Illustrator: Caine Esperanza
Historical Animator: Arturo Bravo Peña
Researcher: Naomi Dinmore
Designers: Ben Powell, Dan Ellacott
Thumbnail Designers: Daniel Ellacott, Patryk Ziolkowski, Ren Hurley & Ben Powell
Production Team: Katy Southwood, Anna Milkovic, Matthew Cavanagh, Josh Pitt & Christian la Brijn
Executive Producer: Zoe Heron
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound
