Betas and the Startup Daydream

Right after writing about Silicon Valley—the HBO one, the show I’d been impatiently waiting on—I stumbled across Betas in my Amazon Prime queue, noticed it was about exactly the same thing (San Francisco, startups, nerds confusing stubbornness for vision), and watched the entire first season in one sitting. That’s the kind of executive decision I make at midnight.

Betas is smaller and rougher than Silicon Valley, less polished in its comedy, more earnest about its characters. It lives in the same mythology—the pitches, the pivots, the founders who believe their app is going to restructure civilization—but plays it slightly straighter, which sometimes makes it sadder and occasionally more true. I’m completely in love with Mikki. That’s basically my full review. There’s a whole show around her, and it’s worth watching, but Mikki is the reason I finished it at three in the morning.

If startup culture and San Francisco nerd drama do anything for you, Betas will hold you. It won’t rearrange your brain, but it’ll keep you company through a season. That’s enough.