Let's try something else. I claim that founders tell themselves (regardless of truth value) that they want to be: "Making the world a better place (and getting

Let's try something else. I claim that founders tell themselves (regardless of truth value) that they want to be: "Making the world a better place (and getting really damn rich)." The justification for this attitude is that one can supposedly participate in a positive-sum game for both parties -- one party is you, the other is the world. This is the altruistic lure of market structures. Whether or not you agree with that non-zero-sum stance (do markets actually tend to produce such situations, all externalities considered?), I think the "making a lot of money indicates I'm filling a truly needed demand" mentality produces entrepreneurs who unnecessarily tie their personal increase in wealth to the feeling of an increase in some greater good. But we do get pretty cool products out of this, whatever the psychology involved.