[jfasi]

I consider this post part of a nascent trend to de-bullshit the startup and technology scene. For years the narrative has been "we in the tech industry are standard bearers leading society into a bright new tomorrow." The recent protests around the Google buses, as well as John Oliver's takedown [1] of the tech industry seem to be striking a chord with the public, and there's a lesson to be drawn: we tech folks are not as important as we think we are.

A business is just that: a business. Not a humanitarian aid mission dispatched from your benevolent head into a world made unbearable by its lack of smartphone apps and productivity software. It's an organization that is focused on delivering a product that people will pay for. I'm thrilled for the author that he found something he can profitably produce, and I commend him on his exit from the messiah complex echo chamber that's plaguing our industry.

[1] http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/11/john-oliver-kills-at-crunch...

[ryanSrich]

"Join us and help change change the world" - _every valley startup ever_

[EGreg]

Some businesses change the world more than others :)

http://qbix.com/blog/index.php/2013/04/a-new-kind-of-platfor....

What do you think?

http://platform.qbix.com

[LandoCalrissian]

"Help us make <INSERT PRODUCT> beautiful."

[ulfw]

The world must be one hell of a shitty place if it needs to be changed so much every single time.

[vdaniuk]

The world is extremely shitty place and you dont see that only because, I assume, you are the part of the top earning cohort.

[pjc50]

It certainly needs a lot of change. The change it needs is not necessarily the change it gets.

[lmm]

And how many tech startups serve any other cohort?

[vdaniuk]

Most startups are b2c and serving mass markets. This is fairly obvious if you look at their target audience.

[ulfw]

Exactly! I don't see how an Uberpriced Taxi changes the world you describe.

[michaelochurch]

"We're changing the world." This will be our excuse for low pay, crappy benefits, fast firing, and nonexistent career planning. We want you to think of yourself as a founder but you'll have employee-level equity and if you try to use our rising star to advance yourself (i.e. by acting like a founder in the public) we'll fire you.

Those companies are halfway houses for college kids who don't want to grow up, but they're actually more dangerous to one's career and income (short-term and long-term) than regular corporate jobs-- and the quality of work is often, ceteris paribus, worse in the goofy startups.

[ryanSrich]

If you truly are changing the world for the better, (eg. healthcare, energy, non-profit, science, etc.) that's awesome and you should totally flaunt it.

...but if you're building another rehash of some shitty social network that helps people "connect" at a more "intimate" and "personal" level please don't say that you're changing the world. You may very well be changing the world but it'll be a shittier place when you are done.

[toomuchtodo]

> and you should totally flaunt it.

Eh, not so much. Yes, you should be proud of what you're doing, but don't waste time "flaunting it." Spend that time getting the people and resources together you need to accomplish your mission. Passion about your mission isn't the same as flaunting what you're doing.

This also assumes that healthcare, clean energy, etc are "sexier" problems then connecting maids to people who want their house cleaned.

[jwdunne]

I 100% agree here but it can be expanded further. It's not just about products. A business simply fulfils needs in return for more than the cost to fulfil those needs.

A business can be a service, where I or someone I employ can fulfil a specific need using a set of skills.

A business can be in renting, where I can rent an object for a pre-determined amount of time for a fixed cost at regular intervals over a certain time period.

There are many more ways to fulfil specific needs and these can be and often are combined in several ways. For example, offers of travel insurance and such during the check out process of purchasing a plane ticket.

LawnStart could even offer a range of lawn/garden care products to his customers, if they are so inclined on top of his general service, such as products which improve the growth/health of lawns which may need to be applied more regularly than Steve is able. Of course, this is only to illustrate combination of service and product (I think the people paying him to care for their lawns means they wouldn't be so interested in lawn care products).

[rdudek]

Agreed. We should stop calling everything a "startup". This shit is getting old. Business is business. People do things to solve problems, and by doing so, they generate income.

[rjf90]

Give this guy a medal.

[akeating]

This resonates with me. In my view the real superstars in this industry are people who listen well, have humility, are grounded in reality but are smart and confident.