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What a crock. I get that some of this may be tongue in cheek but I really despise this attitude. There's this sort of weird pseudo-religious belief that by virt
by bpatrianakos 13y ago
What a crock. I get that some of this may be tongue in cheek but I really despise this attitude. There's this sort of weird pseudo-religious belief that by virtue of being involved in a startup you're somehow doing the world some great good.
Your new social/local/mobile app isn't world changing no matter what kind of hustler you are, no matter how much hype you put out, no matter how much money you raise. Anyone can be a capitalist for good or bad whether its exploiting a niche market segment on your own or with a startup.
I believe that regardless of whether you're on your own or do a startup, if your motivation is purely financial you can still do the world great good. Similarly, do-gooders with a grand vision can harm the world. Your stupid little messaging app can connect people from around the world and change the way people communicate (throw in some good crypto and you've done even more good for private comms) or your energy startup that's supposed to change the way we fuel our vehicles and provide clean cheap energy forever can end up doing great harm to the environment or put millions out of jobs as a side effect. These are obviously very hypothetical examples but the point is that there's no "motivation + execution = ethical/unethical success" formula.
There's way too many shades of gray to even be able to consider generalizing like this post does.
- michaelerule 13y agoTo me the generalizations in this article come across as ironic or satirical.
- nicholassmith 13y agoIt's a very tongue in cheek post, there's been a few posts from that blog linked on HN and they've been very full of irony and satire.
- btbuildem 13y agoI think he was poking fun at the startup guy there.
- ampersandy 13y agoI am unsure as to whether you are scorning or agreeing with the author. You pointed out that a) this is tongue in cheek and b) seem to agree with the fact that founders shouldn't be scorning anyone not following in their footsteps. Why can't the author make a generalization about startup founders based on his experiences? We all have stereotypes about other races, nationalities, people with a certain 'look'. Of course there are many shades of gray in between. That doesn't preclude us from associating certain character traits with someone before we've ever spoken with them because of how they look or where they are from.
- chc 13y agoI believe this was the intended reaction. Startup Guy's inability to see virtue in anything that is not strictly in line with Silicon Valley startup culture is being held up for ridicule.
- gottagetmac 13y agoMyles identifies with Personal Income Hacker there, not the Startup Guy. He's making fun of that attitude.