Startup culture is heading in the wrong way

December 24, 2025

I was born in 2005.

So I might just be talking from survivorship bias. The people that fall into the bucket of founders that I will soon categorize might just be names that didn't survive to reach my attention.

In 2005 the startup founders were the weirdos. Sure many of them were rich but people generally dismissed the lifestyle and didn't classify it as "the American dream". VCs were not cool. They were nerds. They had no interest in flexing on social media and playing the game of status. That was left to LA.

Now in 2025 the doors between LA and SF are blending. I recently watched the interview with the Cluely founder. A startup that has gotten a lot of traction this year. In an interview with the founder, Roy Lee, he randomly just drops "I love girls, every year I had a new girlfriend". What the fuck? Is this a game of trying to be the coolest high schooler at the schoolyard or something? It feels like there has been a paradigm shift from founders with competence to people that the sad VCs think are cool.

Probably has something to do with the fact that startups are the cool thing to do. This sentiment has been increasing every year. There is the famous saying that whatever the nerds in SF do the rest of the world will do N years later. N might be 5, 10, 15 years depending on who is saying it. This was true for like crypto, biohacking (e.g. peptides) and a lot of other stuff. But it seems like it is true for startups itself. Because TikTok and Instagram have idolized the game every kid (can't deny that I fall into that bucket, but like most people I of course think my motivations are different) is doing startups.

And of course the same thing goes with VCs. The insecure VCs flock around the people that they wish they could have been like in their 20s. E.g. partying, girls and all that stuff in between.

Whatever you think about it is up for you to decide. But I personally think it is the wrong direction. No hating on Roy Lee tho, he is playing the game his way and it is obviously working. Just not my cup of tea.