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Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by seehafer on Saturday October 20, 2012 @12:55AM (#4676382)
Posts like this always essentially boil down to one statement:

"The startup (in the pg sense of the term) lifestyle is not for me."

And that's ok. For most people, making a dent in the universe is not an existential need.

Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by oinksoft on Saturday October 20, 2012 @01:48AM (#4676442)
I always forget the name of that startup where Torvalds wrote Linux ... he couldn't have made a dent without a startup, could he?
Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by olalonde on Saturday October 20, 2012 @02:19AM (#4676485)
But the same reasoning applies. What was Torvald's "expected value" at the time he wrote Linux? Probably -XXXXX$ if we factor in opportunity cost.
Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by dmor on Saturday October 20, 2012 @02:09AM (#4676473)
you don't have to have a startup to make a dent, but if you make your goal "work 30 hours a week with a nice salary" to doubt you will achieve anything close to creating Linux
Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by melanie_io on Saturday October 20, 2012 @01:59AM (#4676461)
OR, most people realize that building a wildly successful photo app / car sharing service / daily deal site does not 'make a dent in the universe.'
Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by olalonde on Saturday October 20, 2012 @03:25AM (#4676569)
"wildly successful" is usually a good proxy for "make a dent in the universe" (assuming he/she didn't literally mean physically denting the universe).
Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by dusing on Saturday October 20, 2012 @01:46AM (#4676441)
99.9999% of startups are not denting anything, or really even trying to.
Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by seehafer on Saturday October 20, 2012 @01:57AM (#4676457)
I'd agree that most aren't, but that doesn't mean they're not trying to (laboring under mistaken assumptions and the like)

This also depends on what making a "dent in the universe" means to you.

Re:Build a Business, Not an Exit Strategy by dusing on Sunday October 21, 2012 @10:36PM (#4681606)
Personally I use Steve Jobs' definition. And yes some may "think" they are.