First, instead of focusing on fixed processes and the traditional idea of productivity, many tech companies have an innovation focus, which often results in a more collaborative, output-oriented culture that allows for high levels of autonomy among talented employees.

High value is also assigned to experimenting and continuous learning in order to realize an incremental, iterative progress; a common mantra is “Do it. Try it. Fix it.” Most tech companies tend to be intolerant of corporate bureaucracy, and Silicon Valley executives often stress the importance of speed to their employees, with quotes like “Move fast and break things” (Mark Zuckerberg).

According to data from PayScale, tech start-ups with 100 or fewer employees have half as many personnel professionals as companies of the same size in other industries. In many tech start-ups, the role of the human resource department is therefore focused on acquisition, with other personnel aspects often ignored.

The Stanford Project on Emerging Companies, a decade-long study of 200 Silicon Valley start-ups during the first dot-com boom, found that tech entrepreneurs gave little thought to human resources. Nearly half the companies left it up to their employees to shape the culture and perform traditional human resource tasks, and only 7% had the type of formal personnel management seen at typical companies. This lack of personnel management can easily lead to excesses or misbehavior, from general business mismanagement or even bankruptcy to excessive working hours (and subsequent health problems) to the rise of a ‘brogrammer culture’ with limited attention for diversity.

Evan Williams, Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO, said his biggest mistake at the company was a HR-related one: not hiring enough experienced people during the company’s period of hypergrowth.

Finally, the utopian idea of tech companies operating in a positive-sum game and only helping to make the world a better place is being questioned increasingly.