[telson]

I don't think that we disagree. I'm not talking about the valuation of the well established companies like spotify, netflix, match.com or even instagram and evernote which I use as examples in the post. These are not the problem, like Amazon was not in the dot-com bubble. I'm talking about the numerous "1 website - 1 app" paradigms that seem to proliferate based on VC backing with ridiculous amounts of money. And from my (very short) experience I've seen how that works and defines the start-ups objectives.

The companies I admire most now, used to be start-ups, however the term tends (for me at least) to get synonymous with something that's easy, temporary and quick money.

Maybe I should write another post talking about the good parts of working in start-ups. The parts that attracted me in the first place. So I can balance my opinion and not generalise so much.

I'll get some corporate experience soon (hopefully) and then I'll be in position to make a small comparison from a totally subjective point of view. After all, who knows, I may miss the start-up environment :)

[ironchef]

I would suggest you read ben horowitz's thoughts on the subject. He was in a startup during Bubble I (Loudcloud) and is now a VC during the current market: http://bhorowitz.com/2011/03/24/bubble-trouble-i-don%E2%80%9...

That being said...I think there is a proliferation of crap ideas and crap "companies"; however, I think there are some other really interesting startups attacking some big and interesting problems.