[brc]

+1 for mentioning the cold war spending which is what put the 'silicon' in silicon valley.

In many peoples minds, Silicon Valley sprung fully formed to it's current state sometime in the 70s, when that is far from the truth. And I don't mean that just in the tech sense, but also the VC & funding model sense.

Arthur Rock wasn't just some rich guy that dropped from the heavens when he invested in Apple - that money came from much, much earlier and was already following a specific way of investing.

Worthwhile reading :http://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-val...