HBO's "Silicon Valley" gives a whirlwind tour of the triumphs, debauchery, and epic fails of the real tech world. It's a show so spot-on, the CEO of Snapchat once called it"basically a documentary."
Earlier this month, superfan and tech consultant Rex Sorgatz published the definitive person-to-person mapping of "Silicon Valley" characters to tech-world personalities, which you can read here.
We combined Sorgatz' research, our own observations from watching the show, and internet commentary to put together this guide.
Study up before the finale of "Silicon Valley" this Sunday on HBO.
Richard Hendricks is the classic Silicon Valley wunderkind who codes his way to the top.
The hoodie-wearing, college-dropout protagonist of "Silicon Valley," Richard Hendricks (played by Thomas Middleditch) calls to mind the classic Valley Boy stereotype, according to Sorgatz.
His devil-may-care tousled locks and frazzled personality remind us of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, while his story arc mimics the fall and triumph of Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey. The little blue bird ousted Dorsey in 2008, but he reclaimed the CEO title last year.
Richard also bears a striking resemblance to the CEO of Quora, Adam D'Angelo, as some contributors on the site have pointed out.
Gavin Belson combines "mercenary business style" tech CEOs Larry Page, Larry Ellison, and Marc Benioff.
Gavin Belson (played by Matt Ross) fits all the requirements of a Silicon Valley titan — down to the five-finger running shoes inspired by Sergey Brin's shoe wear aesthetic.
Belson, the CEO of a Google-like company called Hooli, wants to make the world a better place, better than anyone else can. He does so by trampling his competition and lawyering up when someone gets in his way, just like Oracle's Larry Ellison.
"The CEO of Hooli is clearly patterned after (Salesforce CEO) Marc Benioff," BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti writes. They both run enterprise companies while also "bettering the world through charity, destroying the competition, and seeking spiritual council from gurus."
Peter Gregory embodies Peter Thiel to his core.
Eccentric billionaire and angel investor Peter Gregory (played by the late actor Christopher Evan Welch) reminds us of a fellow member of the "three-comma club," Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal.
Gregory encourages young genius geeks to drop out of college and start companies, which sounds a lot like the mission of the Thiel Fellowship.
The oddball angel investor also has a love-hate relationship with nemesis Gavin Belson. The tension between them is reminiscent of Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's rivalry with Bill Gates, Sorgatz points out.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider