Hmm. My takeaway from this article is that the author simply doesn't have a burning passion to change something in the world or build something that should be in the world, and so a startup has not come to mind. Which is the right course of action: do nothing. Just starting a startup for startup's sake is the worst possible reason. And sometimes the startups that are started are flukes, even obnoxious flukes like Harvard's TheFacebook, and the true business emerges because the founder(s) were smart enough to quickly figure out what was going (and catching) on, how the market was reacting, and they pursued that vigorously and executed brilliantly. I consider all the big widely covered stories, WhatsApp, Facebook, Airbnb, etc., random flukes that executed well with grit and a determination not to give up. But I don't find them very inspiring.
All the startups I founded or co-founded (none located in Silicon Valley) were based on a burning desire to build something that wasn't available to the public but SHOULD be, and I was determined to make it available. Once I decided to go forward, nothing could stop me. Made a thousand mistakes, some in the end costing the respective company. But figuring out what to do as a startup was not typically the hard part. Not having enough good people or funding was. I hope to do another startup but right now I don't have any burning passion to build something that's not yet in the world except for stuff related to improving the way the voting public is informed by media (aka stopping how the public is misinformed by media), sustainable energy, improving health, and making people happier. We'll see if something emerges.
All the startups I founded or co-founded (none located in Silicon Valley) were based on a burning desire to build something that wasn't available to the public but SHOULD be, and I was determined to make it available. Once I decided to go forward, nothing could stop me. Made a thousand mistakes, some in the end costing the respective company. But figuring out what to do as a startup was not typically the hard part. Not having enough good people or funding was. I hope to do another startup but right now I don't have any burning passion to build something that's not yet in the world except for stuff related to improving the way the voting public is informed by media (aka stopping how the public is misinformed by media), sustainable energy, improving health, and making people happier. We'll see if something emerges.