After my posting the other day, I'm a bit reluctant to recommend any books!  But, two books that might be fun reads for you are Po Bronson's "The Nudist on the Late Shift, and Other True Tales of the Silicon Valley" and "The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest (the book, not the movie)."  Bronson captures some of the essence of the Silicon Valley in this paragraph:

"Every generation that came before us had to make a choice in life between pursuing a steady career and pursuing wild adventures. In Silicon Valley, that trade-off has been recircuited. By injecting mind-boggling risk into the once stodgy domain of gray-suited business, young people no longer have to choose. It's a two-for-one deal: the career path has become an adventure into the unknown."

In 2000, at the age of 23, I had the opportunity to join a Silicon Valley company that began when its founders auctioned off their infrastructure management expertise on Ebay.  In year one, they raised over $200,000,000 in venture capital.  In year two, we all shared a glass of champagne as we were acquired for $1.36 Billion.  In year four, our new parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  In retrospect, I'm glad to have been a part of the experience for many reasons, the smallest of which was the opportunity to have been a part of both the rise and the fall of the "dot-com explosion."

Today, I spent some time introducing two friends, each of which is building his second startup.  One friend has already closed a healthy round of funding and the other friend is in the midst of meeting with VC's (which is mildly ironic, because he once sang the praises of bootstrapping to me when our aforementioned company was faltering).  From what I heard, there seems to be an extra layer of sophistication on Sand Hill Road these days.  The existence of a sound business plan, educationally pedigreed founders and compelling technology is not enough anymore.  Based on my admittedly small number of data points, it seems to me that the key ingredient for many VC's is momentum.  They want to work with someone who has already been a successful founder or who has already earned a critical mass of customers.  Using the Po Bronson analogy, they want to invest in people who are "working on their next $20 Million" instead of their "first $20 Million."  Perhaps they would rather not be "mind-boggled" by their risks this time around.  ; )

Will the Silicon Valley (or New York's Silicon Alley or North Carolina's Reasearch Triangle Park or other tech hotspots) ever flourish the way it did a few years ago?  I'm certainly no expert, but I don't think there is any room for naysayers these days.  We may never again see the haphazardness of the late 90's, but I believe in the potential of this Valley and I think there are more technological revolutions around the corner.