Big Head for the Win

You know there’s a growing buzz online about a Silicon Valley reboot. It makes sense. We’re in another wild tech moment, AI everywhere, founders chasing impossible ideas, and every week feeling like an episode that never got written. Someone says, “They should bring it back. Imagine Richard Hendricks running an AI startup,” and the internet agrees. The show didn’t just mock startups; it understood them.

When HBO aired Silicon Valley in 2014, creators Mike Judge, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky turned startup chaos into comedy that felt real. The nervous builder, the loud visionary, the calm operator, the lucky drifter, we all knew someone like them. Even after the show ended in 2019, its language stayed. Founders still talk about “Hendricks moments,” quote Belson during pitches, or laugh at Big Head’s luck.

The jokes became a mirror.

At eChai Ventures, those names come up all the time. Over dinners, mixers and late-night chats, someone always asks, “Which character are you?” The laughter that follows is usually honest. A bit of Hendricks, a hint of Belson, a steady Monica, a wish for Big Head’s timing.

So one Saturday morning at DevX Lounge in Ahmedabad, we decided to take it off the screen. We hosted eChai’s Silicon Valley Quiz, four founders, one whiteboard, and coffee that went cold before round one ended.

Each of them brought a version of the show with them.

Ishani Upadhyay Dave (Shaadivibe) learned about the quiz just a day earlier. She watched one episode, asked ChatGPT for help, and came prepared.

Ayyan Karmakar (TAFCO) had watched the show recently. Fast thinker, faster talker, sometimes brilliant, sometimes bold guesses.

Umang Rajyaguru (C3) moved slow and steady, careful, focused, unshaken.

And Rishit Shah (Kinetic), the superfan. He had watched every episode, quoted lines before we began, sure he was going to win.

Round one told a different story.

Ayyan 150. Umang 145. Ishani 65. Rishit –15.

At one point I let Rishit pick the next question. He chose it, answered confidently, and still got it wrong. Everyone laughed, the kind of laugh founders know when experience doesn’t save them from a miss.

Round two tightened things. Ayyan and Umang kept trading the lead. Ishani stayed calm. Rishit didn’t move up but refused to give up. 

Then came the twist, a final question worth 800 points. Whoever got it right would win it all.

I typed a character name on my laptop, closed the lid, and asked for guesses.

Umang said Gavin Belson.

Ayyan said Richard Hendricks.

Ishani said Monica.

Rishit smiled and said, “Nelson Bighetti.”

The laptop turned. That was the name. Eight hundred points. Game over.

The room erupted. Rishit had done it. The irony was complete. The superfan who lost throughout the game, who became the living parody of bad luck, won it all by naming the one character whose entire story is about stumbling into improbable victory.

He didn’t just answer correctly. He became the story.

For a few seconds, no one spoke. Then the cheering started again. The man who had missed almost everything won with the one answer that made perfect sense. Big Head had found his reboot, right here in Ahmedabad.

That moment felt like why Silicon Valley still matters. The show didn’t invent these people; it gave them names. You still see Hendricks in every founder who overthinks, Belson in every polished pitch, Monica in every steady teammate, Big Head in the one who somehow always lands on his feet. Once you notice them, you start spotting them everywhere.

When the quiz ended, people stayed back, trading stories and favorite episodes, the compression benchmark, the three-comma club, Gilfoyle’s calm chaos. The scoreboard didn’t matter anymore. The room felt lighter, as if everyone had just lived through a new scene together.

And as we packed up, someone asked what we had all been thinking:

If Silicon Valley were really to be rebooted, what would it look like now?

Would Hendricks be trying to fix AI ethics? Would Belson be giving TED talks about balance? Would Monica finally run her own fund?

Would Big Head still be the one who somehow wins in the end?

Till that reboot happens, we’ll keep building, keep learning, and keep living these stories, one founder room at a time.