I feel for the guy, entrepreneurs are a competitive bunch and losing is never easy to take, particularly when it can be interpreted as a shot against your start

I feel for the guy, entrepreneurs are a competitive bunch and losing is never easy to take, particularly when it can be interpreted as a shot against your startup's idea. That said, this comes off as nearly unadulterated sour grapes. Suggesting a second category with a smaller prize for bootstrapped or otherwise small startups is a fine idea. Taking it to the next level and saying that Amazon is being unfair by not doing so is a bit much. Amazon is not a charity; they are indeed obligated to run any competitions in a way that maximizes AMZN shareholder value. This means spotlighting and helping out the startups that both use their services and have a high likelihood of success in the marketplace. It isn't surprising that many of the startups that have been validated by Amazon (by being selected for the semi-finals) have also been validated by venture capitalists. Should Amazon also provide laptops to all interested parties, so as not to exclude people without them? It looks like several others have echoed the OP's sentiments on the Amazon announcement page, so maybe I'm off-base here. I just feel like everyone is better off not getting bent out of shape about winning contests; they should be seen as the lottery -- nice if you win them, no-op if you don't.