I think the point of the article is that the majority of startups are founded by people who want to get rich more than they really want to be a visionary or entrepreneur.
People talk about 'exit' strategies. It makes it rather obvious that the thing they've created is much less important than the money to them.
Whether or not that bothers you, I think it's nice to have occasional articles talking about the view espoused in this article - that entrepreneurship is artistic and artists that care about their money more than their art are viewed with a mixture of admiration and disappointment by artists that have not yet had the chance to 'sell out' or the few who get the chance and don't.
Yeah, I can sorta see that. My position is just that "it's complicated" and that no one really has the standing to tell others what their goal ought to be.
In my own case, I absolutely want to build a profitable, sustainable company that "becomes one of the tech giants" or whatever. I'm not into the "build to flip" mentality, and we have some very specific goals and values[1] driving what we're doing. But all of that said, IF we reach a point where our company has some value, and the right acquisition offer comes along, it would be damn hard to say "no" when you consider the opportunity to do things like I spoke about above: Buying my mother a new house, travelling the world, etc. And no matter which decision I might make, I reject the notion that you're a "failure" if you choose the earlier exit.
People talk about 'exit' strategies. It makes it rather obvious that the thing they've created is much less important than the money to them.
Whether or not that bothers you, I think it's nice to have occasional articles talking about the view espoused in this article - that entrepreneurship is artistic and artists that care about their money more than their art are viewed with a mixture of admiration and disappointment by artists that have not yet had the chance to 'sell out' or the few who get the chance and don't.