And the little guy is still being ignored.

What is a startup?

1. Is it a single person or small handful of friends working passionately on some project which has the potential to change an aspect of the world? 
2. Or, is it venture backed group of experienced leaders who rapidly onboard dozens or even hundreds of savant-like workers to build out a high risk, high reward possibility purpose built for acquisition or IPO investment speculation

For many people, they would likely say the first is true. But, I believe the reality is much closer to the second. And, this isn't to say that VC backed companies are bad or won't deliver amazing things, but they just aren't the underdogs people think they are.

Society needs to have more patience.

When people think of companies like Apple, Facebook, Amazon, or Walmart, all they see are the amazing things these companies have given society. The iPhone, deliveries on your porch almost overnight, and reliable low cost food in practically every city. What fewer people see is how these companies have changed the game.

People expect the world for free. All it costs is your privacy.

Apple created an entire digital marketplace with the expectation that software should be free. Almost overnight this changed how developers sold their systems. Suddenly, they weren't building a product to solve some solution, they were catering to their audience and building an advertising network.

Facebook did the same thing and made people believe that free software forever wasn't only possible, but that it should be expected. Then everyone ignores the hidden costs and downsides. If you're not paying for the product, you are the product…

When did the economy become a private party?

Perhaps I'm naïve and it's always been like this, but having been brought up hearing about the American Dream and the free market, I can't help but feel trapped in an ecosystem that I didn't sign up for. 

Yes, I use the products these companies offer, but I want to hear about the millions of ideas people are passionate about. Is it necessary for every venture to take the VC funding to advertising model in order to gain traction and grow? Or, can people still piece together shoddy software based on an idea to deliver something truly original?

When sites like Facebook or Amazon were started, they were built by just a couple people, or even one person. They had bugs, but people were so excited to see something new, that they ignored the problems. Startups today are expected to be perfectly polished on day one. Oh, and they can't email anyone because that's spam. Sssh, don't tell anyone that every one of these big companies now used to spam everyone. Who remembers when LinkedIn would download your contacts list and just start emailing? Hint, I do.

The point here is that people need to be willing to sacrifice a flawless UI and experience to find something new, or slowly over time evolution will end. Just look at iPhone iterations. A new phone used to mean awesome discoveries. Now it just means a few minutes of waiting for iCloud to finish your restore and you're back to the same apps, but out a small fortune.

I could easily be mistaken for an idealist and maybe the real world would quickly end this possibility, if it hasn't already. But, I don't want to agree to these terms where we let the invisible focus groups and community decided features determine which products are allowed and which don't make enough money.