Silicon Valley Reels in Wake of Trump's Presidential Victory

Donald Trump's stunning upset inspired a wave of despair and anxiety in Silicon Valley. “This feels like the worst thing to happen in my life. i assume we'll get through it, but it sure doesn't feel that way right now,” Sam Altman, president of startup incubator Y Combinator, tweeted. "Is this what it felt like when people first realized hitler could actually take power?" tweeted Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus. Shervin Pishevar, the co-founder of Hyperloop One, even suggested that California secede.

Trump's win is the final twist in a surreal race that had drawn the technology hub into an increasingly assertive political role. Trump's most vocal critics weren't talking about their businesses—their worries were more existential—but his presidency leaves the U.S. tech industry in an uncomfortably uncertain position.