[blackkettle]

> For an industry that doesn’t do it for the money, we sure talk about money an awful lot in the world of startups.

Do people really insist that this is the case with a straight face? The vast, vast, vast majority of startups exist to exploit a business niche that is either underserved or as-yet poorly understood, or to build an 'interesting' app. The point of all these is definitely and without doubt about building a successful business where 'successful' is a virtual synonym for 'profitable' and where 'profitable' also seamlessly serves as a proxy for 'meritocratic'. It seems really disingenuous to suggest that there is some nobler cause at work - and I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with that.