The 'Silicon Valley' stars were asked what real startups do, and their answers are hilarious
Jaimie Trueblood/HBO
In a stroke of brilliance when it comes to improv prompts, Wired magazine asked the cast of HBO's "Silicon Valley" to guess what real startups do. Five of the recurring cast members — Thomas Middleditch (Richard Hendricks), T.J. Miller (Erlich Bachman), Kumail Nanjiani (Dinesh Chugtai), Martin Starr (Bertram Gilfoyle), and Zach Woods (Donald "Jared" Dunn) — all took stabs at the names.
We've sampled some of our favorite responses (leaving out the more NSFW ones) below. Head over to Peter Rubin's feature on Wired for the full video.
Klarna
Their guess:
"Sharna’s best friend who’s kind of a b---- about what she does for a living," Miller joked.
"I mean that's just my aunt's name," Woods says.
The actual company purpose:
Klarna is a Swedish ecommerce business offering "safe and easy-to-use payment solutions to e-stores."
Jaimie Trueblood/HBO
Automattic
Their guess:
"'Automattic 'with two T’s is a company run by a dude named Matt ... " Nanjiani says, trailing off before he is interrupted. A man off camera tells him: “That’s actually true.”
The actual company purpose:
Automattic (founded by Matt Mullenweg) is described as "a distributed company, democratizing publishing and development." WordPress, the popular blogging platform, is owned by the company.
Jaimie Trueblood/HBO
Tubbber
Their guess:
Miller looks down at himself before saying "I’m a member."
The actual company purpose:
According to its website, "the main goal of Tubbber is to enable charterers and boat owners to rent boats, both technically and financially secured."
Mozido
Their guesses:
“That’s how to make a muddled drink for the illiterate,” Woods says, riffing on the recipe for a classic mojito.
The actual company purpose:
Mozido is a mobile-payments platform with the mission to "provide alternative services at lower fees through mobile phones."
Watch the full clip below. Warning: It's NSFW for language.
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