> People start a business first and foremost to profit by way of ROI. I think that's as pessimistic as saying that people work just to make money.

This may have been the case a few decades/centuries ago depending on how lucky you are in terms of where you are born.

Today the majority of the founders I know of are not driven out of "ROI" - but instead they are driven out of some personal passion/interest to change/fix some aspect of the world. You can read the various manifesto posts from Paul Graham on the topic from "what we look in founders" http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html to "why founders are kind" (cant find the link...)

From my side, my passion is .. I want to dismantle the local-work system that makes people's life/career being determined to a large extent from where they are born.

I hate that.