I think the point is more that starting up a traditional business involves much higher costs, effort and risks versus setting up some website or web-service, wh

I think the point is more that starting up a traditional business involves much higher costs, effort and risks versus setting up some website or web-service, which pretty much any Joe Schmuck can do these days. And I completely agree with him. I realize I might be pissing against the wind, with the "startup"-focus on hacker news and all, but lots of these so-called startups I see here, I would consider spare-time hobby projects, and even if they find a way to capitalize on them, I still wouldn't call it a full business. If your business can be summarized as a server, located in some data-center somewhere, working out the stuff on its own, calling it a full fledged business is a bit over the top no matter how much time you spent writing the initial code.