The Traitorous Eight or Silicon Valley’s Trend Setters?
Its easy to focus on the current hot shots of Silicon Valley and their success stories. But its also important to take a moment to remember those who paved the way for innovation and inspiration. The men above were known as the “Traitorous Eight”, because they left William Shockley’s Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Palo Alto, CA, out of growing frustrations for Shockley’s management style, and found Fairchild Semiconductor. The eight gambled their professional reputations and future, and in essence set the standard for future entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Interestingly, these men began as engineers, but eventually went on to become entrepreneurs and found their own companies. The general trend of success seems to be that engineers who moved into the role of entrepreneurs in the course of their career. Perhaps it is the innovative mindset coupled with practicality and a desire to determine one’s own destiny.
Coincidentally, all mengineer’s in my family have worked for 3 of the companies this group founded (Fairchild, Xicor, and Intel). I on the other have not 🙂
