I see this as part of a bigger problem, which is a lack of gusto in Sillicon Valley. People aren't striving to solve problems deeply meaningful to themselves, t

I see this as part of a bigger problem, which is a lack of gusto in Sillicon Valley. People aren't striving to solve problems deeply meaningful to themselves, they are looking for the next big buck in social/local/corny. Others are just as much going after whatever seems to have money in it rather than some problem domain they could be passionate about. Then, of course, if you haven't some problem that truly bugs your existence, you're gonna cash out and live like a fat cow as soon as you can. I could never understand people aiming for exits. Exit? I want to change the world! Or a tiny bit of it. But MY tiny bit. Passion, people! I know the term gets thrown around a lot and it often doesn't mean as much as people make it, but I'd say a minimum of passionate involvement with your problem domain would be nice to find in SV more often. I know I can never rest on my laurels until I've brought down at least one big corporation by doing what they do in an open source, anarchic, power to the people way. Hell, I want to bring down the www, have it lose mindshare to a fully peer-to-peer network, but bluetooth doesn't cut it. I hate these walled gardens, I fear for our future which they can undermine, and I wouldn't want to contribute to more of these gardens, pretty on the inside with unicorns and flowers, until you reach a wall and see surveillance equipment and people shot down trying to escape. But what do VCs know? They're in for a buck, and so are most companies who get big enough to lose it's founder's initial vision. Some companies are founded on a great vision, to solve a passion imbued problem, to give true value to society. O'Reilly has been discussed here recently and it rekindled a lot of my beliefs. I don't want to be at the helm of some billion-dollar ex-startup if I'm just gonna be a puppet to a board of investors. I'd rather stay lean, hungry and foolish, make a true crowd business out of my problem domain, where my software is open source and lots of third-parties have a go at profit. I'm just one of them, thriving on an open ecosystem. That sounds better. I like what App.net is doing. More people should follow the lead.