I took an eighteen month detour from my own business to go work for another startup. I was broke from trying to get my company to break-even, and they were boomer-aged Microsoft millionaires who told great stories about their product and the funding that was right around the corner. That was in 2006, and they're still telling the same story today. The difference now is that they no longer have any employees, and the CEO is essentially living out of his car.<p>They obviously didn't eat Ramen (although it's possible they might now), and they weren't 60 days late on the power bill, but they were just as absorbed with the idea of the startup. For them it was about telling the story of their imminent success, and more importantly, getting other people to believe it.<p>You obviously have to believe in what you're doing, and of course the startup atmosphere can be incredibly thrilling, but the author's note that "we need more people wanting to build companies, not startups" rings particularly true for me. I don't think he's saying that every startup should plan to become a staid, monolithic corporate giant. I think he's saying that you should have a credible plan for organic growth. Even if your end goal is to get funded so you can get out, this will be a thousand times more likely if you can demonstrate multiple consecutive quarters of growth. Then even if you don't get funded, you've at least created a viable business.