I think putting together a startup and becoming a hacker are completely different things.

A hacker is someone who likes to play with the world around them. I don't even know if it's possible to become a hacker. If you've never been inclined to take apart your VCR or walkman then I'm not sure if hacking is for you.

If you just want to start something up, learn PHP and MySQL. It's easy and can run on just about any hosting account. Actually depending on what you're looking to do, a CMS like Drupal could work if your startup was just a news and review site or something.