Here's my hypothesis: The cost of starting a tiny startup is now so low, and recovering from a failed startup is so easy, that people are founding "startup comp

Here's my hypothesis: The cost of starting a tiny startup is now so low, and recovering from a failed startup is so easy, that people are founding "startup companies" as a way of educating themselves. I wish I had time to build a slavish, mindless clone of Youtube. I would learn a ton of useful things about the data-center requirements for streaming video hosting, the state of the codec universe, Flash programming, how to sell in a crowded marketplace, how to look at another video site and figure out if they're competently designed... I could even practice presenting to crowds of bored investors. Who cares if the project is ultimately doomed? If you compare it to a college senior-thesis project, instead of to a serious attempt to found a future megacorporation, it all makes a lot more sense. It's practical education. And it's probably cheaper than a master's degree (which can't teach you this stuff, anyway). After you graduate from the silly me-too project you can use your new-found skills to either get a better job at someone else's company, or to help found a second startup with a much greater shot at success.