So last Thursday I made my way to Villa Christina for the Silicon Valley Bank client appreciation party. Kyle pretty much nailed it.
Classy SVB client appreciation party last night. All the top dogs in ATL Tech came out. Thx @dalekirkland @RyanRoller, SVB
— Kyle Porter (@kyleporter) October 18, 2013
Somewhere along the line I ran into Alan Taetle. Pretty soon the conversation turned to dress.
“What is it with the Atlanta technology scene dress code. I just got back from Austin and everyone gave me grief about how I was dressed in khakis, a button down, and a sport coat. Everyone told me I was overdressed. What is it with Atlanta that makes everyone think they need to put on a suit? It’s ridiculous!”
Standing there in my open collar grey suit I had to agree. Even more so as I wore jeans and a nice t to work and took a suit to change into to attend the SVB event. I felt pretty ridiculous at that point. It’s because it’s the South I said. It’s because people call on other businesses and need to be dressed up. It’s because entrepreneurs get coached to dress up. It’s because investors wear suits.
Alan was not buying any of it and after a little debate either am I. No more hauling suits to the office for me. It’s just a waste of energy to dress for the approval of others without any reason for doing so.