Are you cargo culting your startup?

Michael Seibel of YC warns against a cargo cult of startup stereotypes. But how to actually tell whether you are doing it or not? The line is blurry, and in fact many of the successful techniques invented and adopted by now-famous startups are indeed worth copying.

I’ve figured a good heuristic recently, and the source was very unexpected — the Silicon Valley TV series. First time I watched the first episode a long while ago I sort of took it part-seriously. But when I re-watched it recently a thought struck me: what is showcased in the series are the most stereotypical facets of startup culture, which is more like pop culture at this point. What follows is:

If you have seen it in Silicon Valley, you are probably cargo culting instead of doing something useful.