Pull up a virtual pint and let’s have a laugh while we skewer a sneaky little mess that we have allowed into our tech : Silicon Valley’s freebie madness.
The Freebie Trap: VC’s Glorious Grift
Imagine a startup waltzing in with a £100 million VC war chest, tossing out “FREE” apps like confetti at a wedding. Uber, Facebook—they’ve mastered the art of playing saintly saviors while we gobble it up like kids at a sweets stall. But here’s the twist: that free ride or chat comes with a catch—your data! They stash it like dragons guarding a treasure trove, cashing in on your pics and posts to pay back those fancy investors. Meanwhile, our local haunts sit empty, and the barber’s twiddling his thumbs wondering where the dough’s gone.
Money Velocity: The Pulse We’re Losing
Let’s chat about money velocity—the zippy dance of cash keeping our community alive, from pub tills to bakery counters. When Silicon Valley’s freebie circus rolls through, that dance slows to a crawl, like a van bogged down in Scotland’s finest potholes. No local tech revenue means no pay for our coders, creatives, or that mate who fixes your ride. Instead, the cash jets off to VC vaults, leaving us drier than a desert dram. And with central banks devaluing our pounds (yep, 2.9% inflation in May 2025!), the little we’ve got just sits there, rotting. Depression? You bet—freebies are the economic equivalent of a slow-motion train wreck!
The Silicon Valley Fallout: Data Hoarding and Despair
Don’t be fooled, mates—free apps turn us into the main course, not the customers. Facebook raked in £70 billion (2024) by turning your likes into gold, not by selling features. If we went full free, we’d need a gazillion users to break even on a loan, forcing us to hoard data and flog it to the highest bidder. That’s not our style! Instead, how about keeping cash local, data ours, and velocity humming—no puppet strings from some Silicon Valley suit?
A Cheeky Thought: Charge It, Don’t Charity It
So, let’s ditch the freebie fantasy. Maybe a tiny taste (like 100MB free to tempt folks) could work, but going all-in free is a one-way ticket to economic doom. Charge fair, reward smart, and watch our communities thrive. What do you reckon— are we better with models where cash stays with us, in our communities, not some VC dragon’s hoard? Toss your thoughts my way, and let’s chew on it over a virtual dram!
Cheers,
John
P.S. If Jeff’s lurking, tell him to stick to his cloudy chaos—we’ve got better ideas brewing!