Warning: Willy Wonka Lures Startups into a Chocolate Factory

By The Vice President

So, I made a fatal mistake to add to my post new email address for feedback and ideas. Now it’s too late and I must have my secretary Jean filter out something meaningful.

One man, Marcus something, sent us a link to a post in Medium. The title itself is so reactive only Donald Trump could out-trump it: “Startup Founders, Keep On Burning Cash, Growing Fast & Thinking Big” by some so-called expert Willy Braun.

First of all, Willy, these founders have no cash to “burn”. If they did they would think big in a whole new manner and do a whole less “burning”. Even if you have capital in hundreds of millions floating on Swiss accounts with negative interest — no one uses it to keep warm and it is utterly irresponsible to call people up to such a stupidity!

Little Paul was next to me when I grabbed that article from Jean to see if it is still real or she’s making it up! Seeing my face he smoothly leaned back a little. He knows my angry face.

So — why do I care?

For first: I may seem like an egocentric asshole that I am, but I can’t tolerate stupidity. And laziness. And modified truth.

But even more importantly: we do not need more stupidity! Want to sit back with your world changing attitude that has no future? Please, stay in your home office or Starbucks or wherever you write this stuff. Want to save the planet? Go join Greenpeace (we support them anyway, we support everyone pretty much to use upper-hand when needed). But don’t call everyone else into arms because you have failed you math exam!

Okay Willy, I have no idea if you did or didn’t fail it or even how many degrees you have and I honestly don’t care. You are damaging not just the whole eco-system by inspiring people into “following their dreams” and “thinking big”, you are destroying lives. Social responsibility my ass!

Yes! You read me right, Willy! I have no idea how hard you have had to work or suffer to gain your apparently opinion leader status, but there are many people with clear limits. And pushing them over these limits by feeding them false dreams you are creating a greenhouse of a whole different kind of seeds: homeless people; people with broken families, alienated from friends, in debt (often to these friends).

Following a dream may not be a dead-end street, but it’s a very expensive lottery ticket that founders pay for with their health, relationships and mental state. Rather follow my column and you’ll find out what I have found out.

Startup Industry is a neat machine for capturing value for the liquid organisations as The Corporation but stupidity has no place anywhere.

Allow me throw you a glove: I can send you a full list of below-mediocre startup ideas that have plans well beyond imagination. To back your ideas I invite to pick any one of them and invest all of your savings so they get to burn something.

Otherwise, stop inspiring startups and investors into blindness.

Respectfully yours,

The Vice President

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At ArcticStartup we seek to uncover all sides of startup sector. The Vice President, the author of this story, is our enterprise columnist who demanded full anonymity in exchange for full disclosure.

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the opinions of the columnists are not necessarily that of ArcticStartup