[bbor]

  startup success across stages of a venture’s development - from initial fundraising to exit.

… we know how pointless this all is, right? Not the research (which seems like a solid confirmation of intuitive assumptions and advice) but the industry. I suppose it’s a little rude to point this out on the site started by the guy who made his millions by selling a company to yahoo that ended up being worthless (https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/stores literally 404s now), but it’s just so brazen in this article…

In the post-SV era, I hope we all take the time to consider what other stages of “success” there might be for software entrepreneurs other than raising money from rich gamblers. Like, say, product market fit, profitability, or user satisfaction. Hell, maybe even “did I make the world a better place?”

Tech is changing, but we lucky few in the puzzle-solver class still have an unusually high degree of access to power and autonomy, for now at least; I encourage us to use that to dream a little bigger. If you asked Paul Graham what he’s most proud of, I doubt he’d say “making millions of dollars”, anyway!