This sounds exactly the same in that it's some vanity project under the guise of being indie or privacy focused but all he's really looking for is some more cash.
I'd probably continue to steer well clear.
EDIT: Not to leave HN readers hanging and to back up my comment...
He raised $100,000 on Kickstarter back in 2014 to build a "privacy" focused phone. One month later he took the phone off the table due to "lack of resources". Needless to say the phone never materialised.
https://gigaom.com/2015/01/13/ind-ie-scales-back-focuses-on-...
Both him and his wife are all in on this utopian small-web privacy idea and they detest attending conferences with FAANMG sponsorship. However, his wife recently attended a design conference sponsored by Facebook, Twitter and Google. [0]
He'll probably instantly block you if you brought this up or spin the story.
That's a good enough summary.
There are so many ways to get money, I fail to see this route as a cash-grabbing attempt.
I, for one, like his ideas and attempts at building something with meaning. Even if he fails at every single project, the ideas are here and that's good, I guess.
At least we're talking about it around something, not just words.
Matrix.org
Mastodon
Scuttlebutt
Solid
Feedback is welcome!
UrbitIn other words startup founders evangelise to attract attention to grow fast and to try to get lots of VC funding. FOSS / privacy folks are more humble and quieter so it's very rare to find the loud enthusiasm more common to be found in the valley. Often there is no need to sell the idea and to stoke the hype up when it comes to volunteer organised open source projects. FOSS people tend to be in it for different reasons, in it for the long haul, or in it even if no one is interested.
The risk with any startup founder is that to be "lean" they have to be able to drop their products at a moments notice to try another one. The Small Web idea seems to be an minimum viable product idea and like any idea isn't without value but its possible that it might be more risky to invest time into it compared to a traditional open source idea? (or is it, maybe it will get more interest...)