You've hit the nail on the head. Startup land is basically the intersection of hobby coders and sharks. Often those overlap in the same person, but sometimes t

You've hit the nail on the head. Startup land is basically the intersection of hobby coders and sharks. Often those overlap in the same person, but sometimes they're somewhat separated. And the motivations of both are surprisingly similar. Hobby coders want to tinker and work on cool stuff because it's fun and also because it can provide status and reassurance. And sharks want status and $$$. And sometimes also reassurance. The common factor is a strange kind of individualised selfishness which is either blind or aggressively hostile to social contexts and consequences. AirBnB is a classic example. They made a lot of money - go them - but they've also made a huge contribution to making rents and housing unaffordable for local populations in cities all over the world. Non-conformity would require a "Wait a minute - this is going to cause some significant harm" moment. Startup culture - YC included - just doesn't have what it takes to do that.