I have, myself, like pretty much everyone on this planet, never built a billion dollar company.
As much fun as it might be to be that rich, it's never seemed to be more realistic to think that than to think about being an astronaut. So the interest to me is the metanarrative that's formed that says, yes, this is something achievable.
TechCrunch says there were 23 billion dollar exits in the first eight months of 2018. Call it 35 per year.
That’s about as likely as being on a Superbowl-winning football team.
Young people often neglect realistic opportunities for success to chase unrealistic dreams. As do entrepreneurs.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/18/global-unicorn-exits-hit-m...
You're missing half of the equation. There are a relatively tiny number of people (I assume mostly scientists and military pilots) who have set themselves the goal of becoming an astronaut and are working towards it in a concrete way.
In contrast, virtually everyone is trying to make money, and a huge number of people create companies. Not everyone has "a billion dollars" as their specific goal, but the implicit goal of "as much money as possible" is not uncommon.
The allure of technology in general and silicon valley in particular is the amount of sheer wealth that you can create very quickly.
It's like an athlete saying "I want to increase my endurance" vs "I want to be am ultramarathoner".
The way you train, what you do, how you spend your time, how much time you spend, the risks you take - entirely different worlds. Wanting a billion dollar business is not remotely in the minds of 99%+ of business owners.
I failed at building a billion-dollar company too, a decade ago, but my consolation prize was working for Google, which was pretty good. Still working on building a billion-dollar company the second time around. I work harder and make less than I would've if I'd stayed at Google, but I'm not really passing up too much. Mostly just the opportunity to own an overpriced Silicon Valley quarter-acre Eichler.
Where would rock and roll or rap be if so many young people didn't "foolishly" pursue their dreams? Where would technology and the internet be?
And isn't it simply the nature of the pursuit? If a pursuit is "high risk and high reward", it naturally creates a few spectacular successes and a bunch of "failures".
And while I assume ycombinator's target are high risk, high return ventures, it's extremely nice that this forum exists under their purview. It must incur some cost to run after all.
The point is really that taking VC money requires you to try for a billion dollar company. Founders should think hard before they commit to that path.