Exactly, I think the author of this piece was trying to argue that startups aren't necessarily so clearly "on the whole, good". Who gets to decide that startups

Exactly, I think the author of this piece was trying to argue that startups aren't necessarily so clearly "on the whole, good". Who gets to decide that startups are good but small businesses aren't? PG has a vested interest in VC backed startups and has been an insider for so long that he's fallen victim to his own observations (see his essay on being an insider).