The ownership, creativity, unknown. The ups, downs, fears, joys, camaraderie. The charge-the-hill attitude. The late nights and early mornings. The chaos, the clarity. Evolution, growing up. The first team member who you didn't directly hire. Walking up a flight of stairs and seeing the activity below -- all of which wouldn't be there without you and/or those close to you.
These things aren't just about money. Life is short. Spend it doing things that have meaning to you.
Given how small chances there are for startups to actually make you rich, if your only motivation in life is to become rich you really should choose another career path.
Also this apparently comes as a surprise to you but, yes, there are other motivations for starting a company. Some of them are listed in the comment you responded to.
Really, you can't think of anything? No offense, to me that's a kinda bleak outlook. Money is sorta necessary, but to me it'd always just be the fuel that makes or keeps the interesting things happening.
If you care about anything, then sometimes there is some change you'd like to see in the world because of what it is that you care about.
Often it'll be both. Why not change the world in some way that you care about as well as make lots of money in the process?
I think the Google guys really wanted to empower people with information, and that Travis Kalanick really thought taxis were quite shit. A startup is probably more likely to succeed when the founders are at least interested in the subject matter.
Startups do not have a monopoly on changing the world. The biggest change in our world in the last ten years was the proliferation of smart phones, and none of that came from a startup.
"Changing the world" is the siren song startups sing to lure in starry eyed graduates out of college and hire them for cheap rates on the chance that maybe their stock options might someday be worth something, because even if you don't become a millionaire, at least you can still feel proud that you are a "world changer". Except that's a lie too, because startups that fail (which is most) don't change much of anything.
Real change doesn't happen with the heroic actions of a small startup sailing against the wind. A startup has to grow huge to first have the ability to make meaningful change in the world, and by the time it's huge it's just another drab corporation that people love to hate, and bears no resemblance to a startup. The change comes from the small actions of its employees toiling everyday toward a common goal. Not really something that makes for a riveting read.
And at the end of that dream day when you have changed the world, you might find the world will want to change whatever you did anyway.
The point is, if you care about making change so much, change lives on a small scale. Even with this post I may be changing someone's life, maybe some young engineer working at a startup will be sitting there with a thousand yard stare coming to a realization they are in a trap, and take steps toward a better life and career.
But please, let's not continue to disguise ambitions of making a ton of money with noble stories of how you want to change the world and making everything a better place. This is the same as an idea guy who pitches out "amazing" ideas for new apps and then wants someone else to do all the work. The true motivation behind what they say is clear, and their charade is insulting to those who simply want people to be honest in their interactions. When your goal is to make a ton of money it's easy to start piling in a bunch of extra goals that sound nice, but the tune will quickly change if you tell someone they can accomplish all their extra goals but end up dirt poor.
Well ... whatever your startup endeavours to do. If your startup is building widgets, then you want to make the best widgets you can and make a mark in the industry AND get rich.
