"this is horseshit for everybody except maybe founders"

Well, who do you think PG's audience is?

A 45-yo welder? A school teacher who loves their job? Or even someone happy at their FAANG job?

This advice isn't meant for them. Like most PG essays, it's obviously meant for people who want to be founders (or already are).

You might think it's dumb. But given he's seen people go out and do this, what, 5,000 times now? (Not sure what the total YC company count is) with some median level of success? He's got something valuable to add.

Perhaps you'd like 10x more qualifiers, 10x more nuance, 10x more comprehensive treatment of ALL potential types of people in his essays.

But he'd be far less effective at reaching his real audience - founders and potential founders.