When we first read over superstar tech capitalist Tim Draper's "Six Californias" plan to make Silicon Valley its own state, we were a little skeptical. Was dividing California into six new states a sound idea? Maybe—let's wait and see. A new government study shows there might be some snags, like forming an arbitrary zone of extreme American poverty.

Old guard investor Tim Draper made a name for himself with mammoth VC returns on mainstream companies like Hotmail and Skype, then surprised many by retreating from his own firm firm. Now we know why: he's pushing to divide California into six new states, with Silicon Valley as the new separatist jewel of the union.

Once you've exposed your secret hope that Silicon Valley will secede from the U.S. and "opt-in" to a society "run by technology," there's only one place left to go: Bitcoin Country!

Since 2008, Sun Microsystems co-founder and mega-VC Vinod Khosla has been blocking surfers, swimmers, and the generally fun-seeking California public from getting to the beach. Now it looks like he's going to have his way, the LA Times reports, thanks to a 19th century treaty.

What if the perfect liquidity event for Silicon Valley was not a blockbuster IPO, or an acquisition that paid out at some insane multiple, but a literal exit from the United States of America? No more lumbering bureaucracies, no lobbying incumbents, no "petty" laws, no obstructionist unions. That's what a Stanford lecturer and genetics startup cofounder Balaji Srinivasan proposed at Y Combinator's annual startup school this weekend.