Dive Brief:

• More than three-quarters of founders agree the "evil" perception of tech giants is true, though only half said they actually believe tech giants are evil, according to a State of Startups survey of more than 500 startup founders.

• More than one-third of respondents said investors show bias most toward age, 28% said its gender and 26% said its race. But nearly 90% said older people face the most age discrimination in the tech industry.

• About 40% of startup founders predict China to be at the center of the tech world by 2028 as the country has nine of the world's 20 largest tech companies based on market cap.

Dive Insight:

The tech industry has seen its share of scrutiny, especially over the last few years.

Facebook and Google have become the poster children for how not to handle consumer privacy. Uber's previous leadership gave the company a reputation smeared by sexual harassment allegations. And Amazon's recent HQ2 decisions has led to public scrutiny over the approximate $2 billion the company stands to collect in direct incentives.

Silicon Valley represents a vital part of the U.S. economy, but because of its relative newness, tech companies have benefited from regulations that haven't caught up with them yet. This means a healthy work environment can suffer.

Founders are aware of the perception crisis sweeping the tech industry and yet many find it difficult to resist those methods. Poor leadership is the biggest contributor to employee burnout in tech companies because they have a tendency to "fetishize" startup work standards.