Count Bill Gates as a big fan of the sitcom “Silicon Valley.”
In a blog post Monday, the Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -3.39% co-founder wrote that the Emmy-winning comedy is one of the few pop-culture offerings to really get the tech world right. “If you really want to understand how Silicon Valley works today, you should watch the HBO series ‘Silicon Valley,’” he wrote.
“I have friends in Silicon Valley who refuse to watch the show because they think it’s just making fun of them. I always tell them: ‘You really should watch it, because they don’t make any more fun of us than we deserve.’” Bill Gates
Gates said he relates most to Richard, played by Thomas Middleditch, an awkward entrepreneur “who is a great programmer but has to learn some hard lessons about managing people.”
Over the series’ span, Richard’s startup, Pied Piper, has developed groundbreaking technologies (which have often blown up in his face), dealt with scheming venture capitalists and fended off a predatory tech giant trying to steal its technology.
“It exaggerates things, but like all great parodies it captures a lot of truths,” Gates said, noting how the show’s programmers are “smart, super-competitive . . . and a bit clueless when it comes to social cues.”
GatesNotes Here’s what happens when you mash up BIll Gates and Richard from “Silicon Valley.”
He does have one gripe though — how the show portrays the small startup as mostly capable, while its giant rival, Hooli, is largely inept. Small companies can be inept too, Gates noted, while big companies can have the resources to make more of an impact. But the co-founder of the world’s biggest software company did admit he‘s biased on that point.
Gates also pointed out a few books that he thought also nail the spirit of Silicon Valley: “Fire in the Valley,” by Michael Swaine and Paul Freiberger; and a pair by Walter Isaacson, “Steve Jobs” and “The Innovators.”
Read: Bill Gates promises his summer book picks are (mostly) quick reads
Gate’s blog post came out of the blue, considering the fifth season of “Silicon Valley” ended in May (he said he’s watched the first four seasons and is working on the fifth). But maybe it just shows that even billionaires fall behind on their TV-watching.
He has time to catch up: Season 6 of “Silicon Valley” — which may be its last — won’t be shot until next summer, and likely won’t air on AT&T’s T, +0.20% HBO until 2020, Variety reported last week.
