It seems to me like he is replacing money with "status." Building something on your own, and wanting to tell a room full of people about building something are completely different.
From what I know of Vin, this isn't the ethos of his thinking at all.
I second that. I do not know him personally but I've spoken to him at a Product meetup in NYC and came away impressed by his level-headedness, tenacity and willingness to share what he had learnt the hard way. I've been following his blog since then.
I was commenting on the tone of the article. That's how the article reads.