Do YC and PG describe world as they wish it were rather than how it actually is?

2 points·mohi13··2 comments

Ex: Successful founders do startups to solve problem and not more getting rich. How about Steve jobs, gates, Google guys etc, did they really startup only thinking about the problem to solve?

View on HN

The outcome of building a successful startup is wealth, which can be nice, but that is rarely the only goal. Speaking for myself, the uncertainty, stress, craftsmanship, perceived control, problem solving and creativity all make it very interesting. It is a proxy for adventure as much as it is a way to get rich. I would probably not do startups if I cared about wealth, or wealth exclusively. Wealth seems like a good byproduct if you do something useful. Few people do startups exclusively because the problem at hand compels them to. Perhaps that answers your question.

>Few people do startups exclusively because the problem at hand compels them to.

I guess this helps answer the mental discomfort I was having w.r.t the wisdom "do startups when you really care about the problem".

But I have heard many founders say that they always wanted to startup as that was what they thought a way to get rich, just yesterday I was listening to Tristan Walker say his starting motivation was to get rich: https://mastersofscale.com/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com