​In 2012, Ben Shestakofsky, then a graduate student in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, got an internship at ‘AllDone,’ a gig economy startup based in San Francisco that would eventually achieve a valuation of over US$1 billion. Despite being employed at the company—he was eventually promoted to middle management—he was permitted to write about his experiences in his dissertation. In 2024, he published the book Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality (University of California Press) to bring his findings to a wider audience.

​From the preface:

​Being part of a high-velocity, high-risk startup meant different things to differently positioned workers. Some enjoyed the thrill that came with orchestrating change, while others struggled to keep up with the platform’s dynamic rules and systems. A handful reaped massive rewards as the company grew, but many found that the enterprise to which they’d devoted themselves no longer had a place for them. Although startup founders frequently tout their products’ potential to “make the world a better place,” AllDone’s story highlights how the lion’s share of the gains generated by Silicon Valley companies are siphoned into the pockets of a small cadre of elite investors and entrepreneurs—and how technological innovation in our contemporary economy relies on and reproduces long- standing inequalities of gender, class, race, and nation.

​This book examines how the capital market that supports technological innovation is reshaping the world in its image. I situate the development of new technologies within the business model that drives innovation in Silicon Valley. I show how venture capitalists compel tech startups to pursue rapid growth and continual experimentation as they try to generate windfall profits for investors. Looking at the organizational processes behind a company’s algorithmic systems reveals the role of capital in structuring our technological future. At the same time, investigating how investors’ interests shape technological development in our contemporary economy can also open our eyes to alternative models for funding innovation that could lead to different outcomes for workers and societies.

​We are pleased to welcome Dr Shestakofsky—now Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania—to Newspeak House for a talk and panel discussion of his book. 2024-25 Newspeak House Fellowship Candidates Claddagh NicLochlainn and Tristan Spill will serve as co-panelists, discussing their own experiences in UK startups and in New York’s media startups in the late 1990s. Fellowship Candidate Jyotsna Iyer will moderate the discussion.

Update: Due to unforseen circumstances Dr Shestakofsky will present remotely, rather than joining us in-person as originally planned.

​Programme

​18:30 Soft start

​18:45 Lola Brittain
Welcome and Introductions

​18:50 Benjamin Shestakofsky (remote)
Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality

​19:15 Claddagh NicLochlainn
The AI Hype Bubble: How New Technologies Have Compounded Venture Capital Power—and Inequality

​19:30 Tristan Spill
REV: The Rise and Fall of a Pre-Internet Startup, New York City, 1995

​19:45 Discussion

​20:15 Event ends

​Speakers

​Benjamin Shestakofsky is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and a faculty affiliate of AI at Wharton and the Center on Digital Culture and Society. His research centers on the relationship between work, technology, organizations, and political economy in the age of AI. His research and teaching interests include the sociology of work, technology and society, economic sociology, qualitative research methods, and organizations.

​Claddagh NicLochlainn is a 2024-25 Fellowship Candidate at Newspeak House. She was a member of the Entrepreneur First LD20 cohort, following which she became co-founder and CEO of a cybersecurity start-up. She holds graduate degrees in computer science and public policy.

​Tristan Spill is a freelance graphic designer with over 30 years experience and a 2024-25 Fellowship Candidate at Newspeak House. 

​Jyotsna Iyer works as a researcher in the Trustworthy Digital Infrastructures for Identity Systems team at the Alan Turing Institute and is a 2024-25 Fellowship Candidate at Newspeak House. Her research interests are interdisciplinary in nature, combining domains like computer science, science and technology studies, political science, and philosophy.

​Organisers

​Lola Brittain works as a researcher in the Fairwork Project (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford). She holds an MSc in Politics and Communications from the London School of Economics and has previously worked for a platform cooperative, as well as market research firm.

​Six Silberman works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights (University of Oxford), serves as the Lecturer in Sociotechnical Systems at Newspeak House, and previously worked as a software engineer and trade union official.