At risk of simplifying too much: they fulfill very different goals, acquiring public knowledge vs getting rich. You might be forgiven :-) for thinking that an

At risk of simplifying too much: they fulfill very different goals, acquiring public knowledge vs getting rich. You might be forgiven :-) for thinking that an academic research project can be identified with its publications and declared outcomes, because that's what is usually presented. At its best, an academic research project is an exploration of some narrow corner of the space of ideas, perhaps with no immediate application. Depending on the area, its publications represent both improvements and dead ends. (At its worst it's just a load of exaggerations and distortions of the truth designed to fool an already self-deceived funding body into providing salaries, a travel budget and equipment. Most projects strike a balance). On the other hand, startup=growth [1]. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html