From Miranda Kerr to Emma Watson, celebs are ditching rock stars to bag themselves a billionaire tech nerd
Snapchat founder Evan Spiegal's engagement to model Miranda Kerr shows time has come for social media moguls
THE 9.6million followers who tune in to watch Miranda Kerr having her hair done on Instagram – for this is how models spend most of their time – were treated to a more interesting sight last Thursday: A black and white photo of a whacking great diamond ring.
Across it was the caption, “Marry me!” and a twee animation of tech mogul Evan Spiegel on bended knee.
Underneath Kerr typed: “I said yes!!!” and an explosion of heart emojis.
A spokesman for Spiegel, founder of the Snapchat mobile app, who is 26 to Kerr’s 33 and worth £1.6billion to her £32.4million, said they “are very happy”.
He declined to add if Spiegel was disappointed Kerr had not announced their engagement, which already has 447,000 “likes”, as a Snapchat “story”.
At first, the marriage seems an unlikely combination. He founded Snapchat while still at highly regarded Stanford University, becoming one of the world’s youngest self-made billionaires by 22.
She is a Victoria’s Secret model who was previously married to the Pirates Of The Caribbean star Orlando Bloom (she allegedly had a fling with pop brat Justin Bieber, leading Bloom to throw a punch at Beebs in a posh Ibiza restaurant).
Perhaps the union indicates there is more to Kerr than we thought.
More likely, it reveals something about Spiegel and the way the social status of “geeks” has changed.
Since Steve Jobs made computers cool and Millennials started living online, nerds are king.
Even coding is sexy enough for the model Karlie Kloss, singer will.i.am and actor Ashton Kutcher to learn it.
Silicon Valley has become the new Hollywood, as moguls and social media barons take over from film stars and sportsmen not just on rich lists, but as alpha men.
Being a co-founder of a company is this decade’s equivalent to being a rock star or a chef. If their attractiveness to models and actresses proves anything, then being a twag — tech wife or girlfriend — is a “thing”.
Sources tell me twags are also known as “founder-hounders” because they like to date the creators of start-up companies.
Actress Talulah Riley was an early adopter. She started dating the PayPal founder Elon Musk in 2008. Riley, fresh from starring in the St Trinian’s film, met Musk in London’s Whisky Mist nightclub after he gave a lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society.
I interviewed her shortly afterwards and she said they had spent the evening talking about “quantum physics”.
A month later they were engaged. Their on-again-off-again marriage lasted six years before she filed for divorce again in March.
Currently Musk, worth an estimated £9.6.billion and focused on Tesla cars, is said to be “spending a lot of time” with Johnny Depp’s estranged wife, Amber Heard.
Model Lily Cole dated the Twitter founder Jack Dorsey in 2013. Later she had a son with Kwame Ferreira, founder of the digital innovation agency Kwamecorp.
Actress Emma Watson is going out with William Knight, an “adventurer” who has an incredibly boring- sounding job as a senior manager at Medallia, a software company.
Allison Williams, Marnie in the HBO television show Girls, is married to Ricky Van Veen, co-founder of website CollegeHumor.
Could it be that these women are on to something?
These men are certainly innovative: How else would they invent apps that deliver cheese toasties or match singles based on their haircuts?
They are risk-takers who must be charismatic enough to inspire investors and attract crowdfunding.
They may not be gym-fit, but they are mathletes who can do your tax bill. They are animal lovers: Every start-up is dog friendly.
And they are fun: Who would not want to date somebody with a ball pool in their office?
There is a saying about dating in Silicon Valley: The odds are good but the goods are odd. Nerds are notorious for peculiar chat-up lines.
Still, if geeks can be awkward, that is part of their charm.
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Keira Knightley, complaining that Silicon Valley was all men in hoodies and Crocs, described how one gave her his card, saying she should get in touch if she wanted to see a spaceship.
One Vogue writer recalled a Silicon Valley man messaging her via a dating app, in which he noted: “In 50 per cent of your photos you’re holding an iPhone. It may interest you to find out I invented the iPhone. More accurately I was an engineer on the original iPhone . . . ”
Most promisingly, some guys are astoundingly rich. It is suggested Kerr’s engagement ring is a 2.5-carat diamond worth around £42,000. She has moved into Spiegel’s £9million LA pad.
Between his money and her Victoria’s Secrets bridesmaids, no wonder sources claim they are planning an “extravagant wedding”.
It might rival even Napster founder Sean Parker’s £7.6million performance-art bash.
He married songwriter Alexandra Lenas in a canopy among trees decorated to look like an enchanted forest.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is worth £34billion and is the fifth richest man in the world, has already got through four wives. But at 71, he has found love with 20-something Ukranian actress Nikita Kahn
Such is the dearth of single women in Silicon Valley that dating site Dating Ring crowdfunded a plane to fly women to California from New York.
Be warned: Guys are single because they are married to the job.
No wonder most meet partners at college or work. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg met wife Priscilla Chan at Harvard and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom met his girlfriend Nicole Schuetz at Stanford. Melinda Gates met future husband Bill when, in 1987, they sat next to each other at an Expo trade-fair dinner. “He was funnier than I expected,” she said.
If you want to meet tech guys, you might catch them at Silicon Valley parties, which is how the Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick met his partner, Gabi Holzwarth, a violinist hired to play.
In London you find them around Old Street, aka Silicon Roundabout, in bars, at hackathons, or start-up meet-ups. But some tech boys date the old-fashioned way: On Tinder.
Airbnb founder Brian Chesky met his girlfriend of three years, Elissa Patel, through the app.
Linx Dating is dedicated to making Silicon Valley matches. Amy Andersen set the agency up in 2003 and says tech guys make “fabulous partners”.
Romantic and chivalrous, they write love letters, plan dates, “even proposing on Snapchat”. If you want to marry a tech billionaire, she says, “you need to bring your A game.”
Her clients look “for women who are equally, if not more, dynamic”.
There are drawbacks. Before Google buys your amore’s business, he will be living on Pot Noodles waiting for the next round of funding.
And workaholics are dull. Kerr says Spiegel is, “25, but he acts like he’s 50. He’s not out partying. He goes to work in Venice [Beach], he comes home. We don’t go out. We’d rather be at home and have dinner, go to bed early”.
Which might suit Kerr, but it is not my idea of fun.
Get me a geek
Where to find them: Silicon Valley in San Francisco is their Mecca, but you can also find them hanging around Old Street – aka Silicon Roundabout – in London. You’ll be able to spot them tapping away on their Apple Macs in trendy coffee shops, looking slightly awkward at hipster bars, or communing with other nerds at all-day hackathons.
What they look like: Just because these blokes were CEO by the age of 25 does not mean they will be dressed in sharp suits. They favour the uniform of grey T-shirts, ageing hoodies, Gap jeans and Crocs. Don’t be surprised if they turn up to a date in shorts and flip-flops.
How to approach them: It’s no surprise internet geeks are most comfortable communicating via the internet. Plenty of them can be found on Tinder, or try the specialised match-making service Linx – where packages start at £19,000.
How to charm them: Your average tech mogul has probably endured years in the sex-starved geek wilderness and wants to make up for it now he is hot and loaded. They want a woman who is beautiful enough to make their former school mates groan, but one who can take care of them just like Mum.
What they are interested in: Even though in their twenties and thirties, these guys are overgrown Peter Pans. Their offices are filled with toys and bar games. Anything your 14-year-old cousin is interested in, the chances are your tech mogul date is too.
What to expect: Rich, yes, but socially awkward and career-mad. There is a saying among women trying to date in Silicon Valley: The odds are good, but the goods are odd.