I think the truth might actually be worse. I don't think that `the startup boom is really a disguised job fair for big corporations`. The dirty little secret is that startup scene is an arena and entrepreneurs are the gladiators. Big lumps of money, that seem imaginary to them are dangled in front of their eyes, and they're introduced to former gladiators that have attained fame and glory and were able to buy their freedom, all for the purpose of encouraging the gladiators to fight to the death.
Some die and some succeed and are compensated nicely. Very few attain fame and glory, but enough to keep the ranks of new recruits full.
But of course, it's the owners of the arena, the big corporations who make the real money. Not necessarily from the gladiators themselves, but from the fight. The startup scene is a testing ground, a lab, for Big Corp. It tells them which way the market is going, it tests risky territory. And if something seems to work, Big Corp. snatches it right up. If in the past big research divisions had to test new ground, all on the company's dime, now startups are voluntary crash-test dummies, shooting for a big prize.
And the economics are simple: if the king wants to find a big treasure buried somewhere in the woods he could pay a thousand villagers $1000 each to look for it, or he could offer $0.5M to the one who finds it and let the villagers volunteer for the job. He gets the same work done at half the cost, one villager turns rich and inspires the poor masses, getting a lot of love and attention, while the king still gets to keep the treasure while giving the villagers a fake hope of changing their fate. Simple, really.
So the dirty big secret is this: the startup scene isn't a job recruiter for the big companies, but a way to get workers for free. It's a far worse form of exploitation.
Don't be sorry, it's honestly spot on. It's a wonderful exploitation model of how young men (18-30s) think and feel natively. Big risks, big rewards. Legends, folklore, respect. The model was perfect 2000 years ago and finds new manifestations all over the place.
Of course, I'm not sure it's a terrible thing. Nobody actually dies, at worst a few years of hard fighting are expended before a "real job" is acquired. The hard, risky fighting, while exhausting, isn't a bad thing for the young.
I do think the gladiator metaphor is helpful, but I have to add in that software developers/technical people tend to hold a lot of cards in the modern economy. For example, you can work on a startup, take 2 weeks off on a freelance project, and pay your bills for the next 3 months. Not to mention the startup itself will sharpen your skillset raising your value to future employers.
I think if anyone is getting screwed, it's the inexperienced "business co-founders," who don't have a high hourly rate to fall back on and fall hard for the emotional myth. They still have the resume item of "Founder" that appeals to future employers looking for initiative, but their unfocused skill-set might hurt them.
However, it's interesting that it's self-imposed harm for inexperienced business types, because I imagine that no one is actively exploiting them. Why would they?
aridiculous, you're right that devs/tech people hold a lot of cards in the modern economy… they can do all you said and more. But they almost never do. Holding the cards is worthless when you don't know you're playing a game, much less that you have a winning hand already.
That's why most "startup guys and girls" work and scrimp and suffer and sleep under their desks for a minority share in nothing, while VCs (the business types) laugh all the way to the bank.
Because taking outside capital is like forking over your hand of cards AND promising to only play tiddlywinks in the future.
Whoever holds the money, holds the power. Unless the other party wakes up to realize that they don't need the money.
The fact is that for the past decade (and getting better all the time), it costs virtually nothing to start a profitable web-based business. Almost no one truly needs the money men at all. Tech types still think they do, though. They want the security & validation & ease of being handed a great big whack of cash. Which means they end up the person without power.
The amazing thing about developers, designers, teachers & writers is that we not only own the means of production, we carry them with us IN OUR HEADS. We walk around thinking we need to appease the factory owners so we can get to work, but we don't.
I believe that your metaphor above is correct in getting at some features of the startup world, namely:
1) Many founders are attracted by glory rather than logic.
2) Large companies receive research information from startup successes and failures.
But I don't agree with the gladiator metaphor at all because it implies a degree of deviousness and collusion that isn't present in the startup sphere, and is disingenuous to imply.
Take your example of the king offering $0.5M for the finder of a treasure. Here you imply that his goal of offering the prize is to "give villagers a fake hope" and "inspire the poor".
What if the treasure in reality was just worth $0.6M to him? Then the king might conclude a) if someone had the treasure, he'd be happy to pay $0.5, but b) suppose the cost of finding the treasure via hire at $1M, then it is not worth hiring people to dig it up.
Thus, the king may not decide to hire people to dig this, while happily posting a prize. He doesn't need to have ulterior motives to do this.
Now let's take the economics further. Suppose some people are efficient and other people are not efficient diggers (they're good bakers), and there is no way to observe this beforehand. Then if he hires people to dig, the king will lose money because he's at half efficiency with half bakers and half diggers. If he posts a prize, the efficient diggers will self sort into digging, and the bakers will produce real good.
Our data points are few, and really just 1) and 2), so we can't know for sure companies are being evil (and I don't believe they are). It's a classic case of an underdetermined system.
I like your take and think it has a ring of truth to it. However, don't confuse your model with reality. Reality is full of nitty gritty details and variations. And some folks start businesses to get rich, and do, and some start them to gain more control over their lives, or greater fulfillment. It's not all a bunch of duped drones working for The Man, for free. And just because there are some suckers, and some people are not good enough, doesn't mean all are.
I'm not saying they're all duped drones, but most of them are working for The Man. And, of course, they can't unionize (not that that's been too helpful) because they're competing with each other for The Man's favors. They may take control of their lives, they may achieve fulfillment, but they don't hold real power. And like I wrote in another comment, any sustainable exploitation must be advantageous for the exploitee as well. I'm not saying the system's bad. Just have your eyes open.
And funding and startups become about the glory, the dream, and not the actual results (e.g. breathing good, solid life into a dream… and making good money).
But of course, it's the owners of the arena, the big corporations who make the real money. Not necessarily from the gladiators themselves, but from the fight. The startup scene is a testing ground, a lab, for Big Corp. It tells them which way the market is going, it tests risky territory. And if something seems to work, Big Corp. snatches it right up. If in the past big research divisions had to test new ground, all on the company's dime, now startups are voluntary crash-test dummies, shooting for a big prize.
And the economics are simple: if the king wants to find a big treasure buried somewhere in the woods he could pay a thousand villagers $1000 each to look for it, or he could offer $0.5M to the one who finds it and let the villagers volunteer for the job. He gets the same work done at half the cost, one villager turns rich and inspires the poor masses, getting a lot of love and attention, while the king still gets to keep the treasure while giving the villagers a fake hope of changing their fate. Simple, really.
So the dirty big secret is this: the startup scene isn't a job recruiter for the big companies, but a way to get workers for free. It's a far worse form of exploitation.
Sorry for all the metaphors.