[ch4s3]

>Expanding who you know, how much they like/admire you, and how much they want to work with you is part of meritocracy

This is a lot like the original definition of meritocracy. A very negative one.[1] If merit is determined solely by the people already in places of power like A16Z on the arbitrary measure of "how much they like/admire you" then it is exactly like and by definition Cronyism.[2] I'm not making a value judgement, but if it quacks like a duck...

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy#Early_definitions [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronyism#Concept

[webwright]

That's why I said "part of meritocracy". Which words did I use that made you think that I believed that was most or all of it? I just added a stat to my original comment-- about half of the top venture backed startups have immigrants on the founding team, and 75% in key positions.