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Even many startuppers, who often work insane hours on the assumption that their options will turn to gold when their company is acquired or goes public, seem to

Even many startuppers, who often work insane hours on the assumption that their options will turn to gold when their company is acquired or goes public, seem to reserve special pity for lifestyle entrepreneurs who haven’t won Sand Hill Road money and aren’t perpetually “killing it” or “crushing it” in the way Silicon Valley culture demands. Pity for people who make a good living doing what they love? I don't know who the author thinks he is speaking for, but I highly doubt it's "many" people in the startup community. Replace pity with admiration and then you have an accurate statement.

waderoush 15y ago
Maybe I overdramatized. My point in the opening of the piece was that in the dominant Silicon Valley mythology, building a "lifestyle" company is seen as a less macho and ambitious path than building a VC-backed company that has a shot at making its founders and investors mega-rich.
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- dmix 15y ago
  > in the dominant Silicon Valley mythology, building a "lifestyle" company is seen as a less macho and ambitious path than building a VC-backed company To be fair, I think this is not so much about the common mythology in the valley. It's more about how the valley PR sites most commonly talk about. There's so many bad companies in the tech scene, that we often look at the VC/angel scene as the filter for whats worth looking at. I'd argue (as a creator a lifestyle business) that there are even more uninteresting startups with that fall into the lifestyle label - by that I mean not very pressworthy - not that its a bad business. The companies that are trying to do big things, usually require capital and that often comes with getting press and attention. It's also important to note that most "lifestyle" companies aren't really startups anyway.. more small businesses... and they aren't the type of companies that need VC in the first place. But as soon as any lifestyle business becomes successful, they get a ton of praise. Especially on HN. Just like any acquisition or exit.
grammr 15y ago
Agreed. I was confused when he started the article by claiming that in "Silicon Valley, there is no more pejorative term than “lifestyle business.”" This is absolutely not a characteristic of the startup community.
davidhansen 15y ago
Well, you'd be wrong. Speaking from personal experience, nobody cares about bootstrapped businesses. There is no glory, admiration, or external social validation of any kind to be had by bootstrapping a business. The money, the challenge, and the freedom of control makes the obscurity worthwhile, though.

waderoush 15y ago

Maybe I overdramatized. My point in the opening of the piece was that in the dominant Silicon Valley mythology, building a "lifestyle" company is seen as a less macho and ambitious path than building a VC-backed company that has a shot at making its founders and investors mega-rich.

deleted 15y ago
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dmix 15y ago
> in the dominant Silicon Valley mythology, building a "lifestyle" company is seen as a less macho and ambitious path than building a VC-backed company To be fair, I think this is not so much about the common mythology in the valley. It's more about how the valley PR sites most commonly talk about. There's so many bad companies in the tech scene, that we often look at the VC/angel scene as the filter for whats worth looking at. I'd argue (as a creator a lifestyle business) that there are even more uninteresting startups with that fall into the lifestyle label - by that I mean not very pressworthy - not that its a bad business. The companies that are trying to do big things, usually require capital and that often comes with getting press and attention. It's also important to note that most "lifestyle" companies aren't really startups anyway.. more small businesses... and they aren't the type of companies that need VC in the first place. But as soon as any lifestyle business becomes successful, they get a ton of praise. Especially on HN. Just like any acquisition or exit.

grammr 15y ago

Agreed. I was confused when he started the article by claiming that in "Silicon Valley, there is no more pejorative term than “lifestyle business.”" This is absolutely not a characteristic of the startup community.

davidhansen 15y ago

Well, you'd be wrong. Speaking from personal experience, nobody cares about bootstrapped businesses. There is no glory, admiration, or external social validation of any kind to be had by bootstrapping a business. The money, the challenge, and the freedom of control makes the obscurity worthwhile, though.