[sherwin]

I think the original article (the talk by Phil Libin) was targeted for a more general audience, which qualifies his suggestion not to do a statup. Libin writes:

"I’ve narrowed it down, really boiled it down, to one core piece of advice. If I can only say one thing, and I don’t know you any better, it’s: don’t. Don’t do it. Seriously."

The key part here is "If I can only say one thing, and I don't know you any better" -- for MOST people, starting your own company is not a good idea! Especially if you'd be doing it for any of the misconceptions that Libin outlines.

However, it is odd that Libin chose such an approach given that he was speaking at a conference with a big emphasis on web start ups.

[tferris]

Libin chose this topic in order to provoke, to get press and attention for Evernote.

[Aftershock21]

May be he meant as a sarcasm given the success of Evernote!

[sundeep_b]

Sarcasm? Only from that talk, I don't think he has it that much. It felt like he was talking expecting laughs from the audience, but, he was able to get quite a few towards the end.