I think this article is a great read... but just as he calls success in startups binary, so is the definition of what a startup actually is. Some aren't looking for that payoff in the end, and the lear jet. Some people simply just want to work for themselves, and can lead a simple lifestyle.

The idea that you have to 'go big or go home' in tech is getting more outdated I'd say. If I have to choose between being a corporate toad or a work-enslaved zombie, I choose neither. We live in a free-market economy, which gives us the flexiblity to make what we want with it. Isn't that what entrepreneurism is all about?