> I would think most of the startups have products as instrumental goals; the exit is the terminal goal. Depressing, if true. I would hope that most people ha

> I would think most of the startups have products as instrumental goals; the exit is the terminal goal. Depressing, if true. I would hope that most people have a product that they want to build, and more money is an instrumental goal that lets them build it better. For example, I'd expect someone who loves to code to have software they want to write, and want enough money to allow them to do so—as opposed the executive who loves money and views writing software as the best way to get it. I'm not convinced that any great work was ever crafted by someone who was primarily crafting for instrumental reasons. But you're probably right, and that's probably a big part of what's so toxic about startup culture these days.