I love this piece in the Washington Post today skewering a culture in Silicon Valley of treating the founders of very questionable start-ups like celebrities when few have actually done anything:
“Recently, my friend Dmitry Shapiro asked: “Why are so many great developers spending their time trying to create products specifically designed to addict and help us waste our time?” Along the same lines, I wonder whether members of the technology community have lost the ambition to build lasting companies that contribute to productivity instead of another “flavor of the month” social media application.”
and
“Even a cursory glance at most conference lineups reveals a host of speakers whose actual accomplishments are flimsy at best and whose primary skill seems to be self-promotion. (Should a first-time entrepreneur really be dispensing “knowledge?”)”
This start-up stuff is hard, especially if this is not the game you’re able to play…