"If startups are so great then what are the civil engineers, accountants, financial analysts, lawyers, botanists and other top-tier professions in the world doi

"If startups are so great then what are the civil engineers, accountants, financial analysts, lawyers, botanists and other top-tier professions in the world doing with the idea? Surely they are bored and uninterested in their jobs too right. I'm sure that among the million employed in those professions, some might have budged and become interested in the idea right?" That is far from true. Civil engineers set out on their own and form small partnerships and own a niche. I am related to two civil engineers, one specials in airport runways and the other in environmental remediation. They travel all over and make a bunch of money. They both have PhDs and do novel stuff. Their work is probably more variable than the various RoR startups being founded now, and takes a whole lot more capital to start. Some people wouldn't call them startups in the snotty valley sense of the word, but they are equivalent to your average bootstrapped software startup. Accountants, lawyers, architects, and doctors are always stepping out to be their own boss. That is one of the allures of those professions. (I know nothing of botanists). More of them work in solo offices or partnerships than for big companies. A lot of them require just as much capital as a startup, if not more. They all need offices. They need paralegals or medical equipment or CAD software or nurses. They all advertise for customers. They are fraught with risk too. But scores of people do it, because it does have its rewards.