I think the term "ballers on a budget" is often inapplicable to the types of waste and inefficiency I observe in the tech scene. My take is that the author thought this was a clever term and tried to relate it to something he knew about, but it doesn't really fit.
I propose the term "idiots with no idea what they're doing with their investors' money" since that seems to fit better to the types of people the author is trying to talk about.
I've never really seen any poser CEOs at the conferences I attend. Usually genuinely successful founders or legitimate hackers. Maybe I'm going to the wrong events.
what qualifies you to start a business? what qualifies anyone to do anything?
Maybe I'm taking crazy pills, but once you enter the realm of teacher/speaker/mentor/workshop-runner, I thought it was sort of assumed that you've previously put your knowledge to the test and at least tried to build something. Hell, even if you tried something and it was a huge smoldering failure, that's better than jumping on stage as soon as you close your copy of the Lean Startup.
Sorry, I really don't mean any disrespect. I just don't want to see an ecosystem of "startups teaching people how to build startups that teach people how to build startups" I've seen it in other industries and it sucks.
If your advice isn't proven, by what possible standard can the workshops kick ass?
> what qualifies you to start a business? what qualifies anyone to do anything?
Starting a business isn't giving advice, it's doing the work to know what advice to give, and unless one succeeds at doing so, one doesn't have advice worth being heard.
If I want to be a successful entrepreneur, I'm not taking advice from someone who hasn't been a successful entrepreneur; I'm amazed anyone would. One shouldn't teach what one can't do.
Not to pick on Trevor but what qualifies him to run a lean/entrepreneurial workshop? Has he had a successful startup? If not, how is that any better than being a "conference ho"?
This post is weak-sauce IMO