Spot on. I’m in the fifth startup of my (37-year+) career now, and the first in 20 years that has ticked all the “most likely to induce failure” boxes, starting with “confusing cashing out for idealistic mission focus”. When top management buys into the Sili Valley mythology, Bad Things are sure to follow. Especially when you’re restricted to meatspace half a planet away from Sili Valley or anything like a reasonable talent pool.

I’d love to have a job with a company that actually made payroll occasionally. Having such a company that also happened to be focused on doing something truly socially useful, and had the resources to make it happen, is a cherished dream.

But, as I asked a couple months back, can anybody name a unicorn in the last 10–15 years that did anything truly socially beneficial? SpaceX and Tesla, and the competitors they inspired, probably qualify. But that’s an egregiously small fraction of all Sili Valley startups, let alone wannabes elsewhere, isn’t it?