I've always suspected this is simply power dynamic advice. If you look up stats majorityof businesses are started by already rich people or the relatives of ri

I've always suspected this is simply power dynamic advice. If you look up stats majorityof businesses are started by already rich people or the relatives of rich people(ie a small $10m loan from dad). If you have that power dynamic to have people smarter that you can pay lots of money then it probably is a good strategy. I'm guessing HN is more of the scrappy actual small business you start yourself that most people think about naturally as starting a business.. It is probably really hard to get someone smarter than you to work for when you cannot pay top rates. Why would that person work for you rather than become a better competitor themselves? I'm sure there are lazy smart people out there but I'm guessing its a thin pool and they are probably friends of the already rich entrepreneurs so they will stay in that circle. Again they are lazy so they are not going to want a company that has high risk of going out of business and needing to do the work of looking for a job. You are probably better off as a real self started business finding diamonds in the rough, people that are not generally good but have one or two strong skills that you can offload you own mental/time burden to and get at budget rates.