We certainly don't hear much about efforts or successes in anyone's effort to "disrupt" the toilet paper industry, yet it's something most people use daily. It's not sexy, but we all care a lot when it sucks.
I don't know where people get this apocryphal wave of "nobody ever talks about boring things". Space X is pretty much the only non-boring "hip" company I can think of!
Mind you some of these (e.g. Warby Parker) have had a lot of success. It's just not clear to what degree they've really disrupted the mainstream of their industries.
http://www.smashcompany.com/business/why-do-entrepreneurs-en...
Their success was still very very hard won. But being part of royalty doesn't often make it in the most inspiring stories.
What smart investor seeks out "average chumps" exactly? That's an excellent way to lose money. Your setup is a rather amusing contradiction.
You think the $200,000 (Walton put in $50,000) - inflation adjusted - that his step-father put in, was unavailable to everyone else and it made all the difference in Walton's success?
I grew up in an extremely poor part of the country, financing like that was available to a lot of business people. It's typically how most new small businesses that required any meaningful capital got started: other people in the community with money would invest, as banks would never risk their capital without collateral.
$250,000 is about what it costs to open a small convenience store.
The Ben Franklin store Walton opened and operated, was a very successful venture. His father-in-law made an extraordinarily smart investment. As it turns out, Walton wasn't an average chump.
If someone builds their career expectations and aspirations around what they gathered from Forbes, Techcrunch, or a TED talk, we call them entrepreneurs.
* It depicts something everyone fantasizes about and offers a quick if ultimately unsatisfying release. Who doesn't imagine themselves building something amazing and being idolized by magazines and the general public?
* It happens in an unrealistic sort of magical fairy land, often in the founder's own hazy, romanticized recollections of their past.
* It only shows beautiful companies/people. You don't need to found a space exploration company to be happy just like you don't need to be with a model.
* It offers no real guidance for how to achieve what it's depicting, leaving viewers confused at best and frustrated at worst. This article touches on the fact that people seem to think all they need is an idea, when that's not what it takes.
* It's most popular with those who are either frustrated with their careers/romantic lives, or are otherwise trying to satisfy a need they feel isn't being met. This one is a little shaky because plenty of people enjoy actual porn in healthy ways, so forgive me for the stretch.
The comparisons go on and on. How healthy your relationship with each is depends on how much exposure to the realities of each field you have had and how mature you are as a person/profession.