This is accurate. The "tech" industry is 95% marketing that uses technology, not actual technology. The bad guys have won in Silicon Valley and I don't see there being any way to reverse that.
I keep seeing this discussion and people arguing over that some definition is too limiting and that industry X is obviously also technology. But they are missing the point: yes hardware, manufacturing and media companies are also using tech or making tech, but in the context of the stock exchange and evaluating a companies potential this doesnt matter.
In that context a "tech company" specifically refers to a company that is able to take advantage of new business models or ways of operation enabled by tech that allows them to scale and make large returns on investment. Thats it. Thats why they are attractive to investors, which in turn is why every company tries to convince people that they are also "tech".
there are no tech companies! there are advertising, media, luxury goods etc. companies. Tech is just what drives their business, as many other businesses, just slightly more noticeably.
This trope of establishing businesses as either "a tech company" or $INDUSTRY needs to end. You either provide a product or service in a particular $INDUSTRY and are technology lead, enabled or not. Netflix, Facebook, etc are "technology lead" businesses. Tech is not an industry, it's a medium in which a value proposition is delivered.
Technically, there is no such thing as a tech company. They are all selling something, usually software directly or better software-powered versions of existing industries.
Amazon is retail, AWS is IT, Google/Facebook are ad networks, Microsoft/Apple is hardware and software, etc.
The problem is that "tech" isn't an industry. It's a set of tools used by other industries.
John Deere is "tech". As is Two Sigma. And Wal-Mart and UPS (logistics). See also NYC quantitative trading firms. And East Coast biotech.
Silicon Valley tech is mostly centered around specific types of consumer products, especially fremium and ad based internet businesses. That's not even close to being the only kind of technology or software out there.
it's like saying something is a "concrete company" because that's what the corporate buildings are made of, or a "people company" because they only employ humans
(terms that actually make sense: SaaS product (Salesforce, Dropbox), advertising marketplace (Google, Facebook)... and so on. Not "tech")
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