Meet the real people who inspired Silicon Valley’s most eccentric characters

By Christine Persaud Published May 9, 2016

HBO comedy Silicon Valley has been a breakout hit. Delving deep into the inner-tech world of Silicon Valley, California, the show follows a group of developers as they try to take their revolutionary software into the big leagues. Every cog in the SV tech wheel is parodied, from the over-confident incubator to the reclusive engineer, the eccentric VC to the laid-back yet money-hungry lawyer. If you’ve ever heard a stereotype about the California tech hub, this show has given it a good send-up.

Related: Stream Silicon Valley on Amazon now

While the show is fictional, it’s a little too accurate to be completely ungrounded in reality. Keen-eyed viewers will notice some striking similarities between some of the characters — not to mention companies — and real-life tech personalities. We’ve outlined six characters from the show that are, at the very least, loosely based on real-life tech entrepreneurs.

Silicon Valley airs every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on HBO. The third season debuted on April 24, 2016.

Note that there will be a few spoilers.

Christine Persaud

Former Contributor

Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…

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