PayPal Founders: Innovation is Dead

Total hypocrisy. Given what they have accomplished and their road to where they are today, you would think that they would spearhead such ventures, but when you have made your $$$$’s, it’s a comfortable place to be.

But let’s explore their observation that "real, deep innovation is not taking place in today’s market" (from techcrunch article; http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/max-levchin-and-peter-thiel...). This has some truth in it, especially when you consider that many tech startups in the last 5 years have been a ‘mish-mash’ of other companies from the past (do I really need more photosharing apps?) Today’s startups are really not tackling world-changing problems - so my question is, "Why?" I came up with three general reasons: 1) people are not thinking outside the box - rather than coming up with a new security patch, why not ask yourself, "why did we start using patches in the first place"; 2) Levchin touched upon it in the article, "the overall risk-taking culture has declined" - Nobel laureate, Barry Marshall ingested H. Pylori himself to prove that ulcers were caused by bacteria; we lack risk takers in tech; and finally (coming back full circle on this ‘hypocrisy’) 3) GREED. Many startups focus on making $ and once they make their $$$, many (not all) do not put $ back into disruptive research - some put more $$ into other ‘mish-mash’ startups to make more $$$ (right, Levchin and Thiel?). Compare a democratic country like the US - lots of innovationn. And now compare China - not so much innovation, but they sure are making a lot of $$$ (solar panels, anyone?). We’re good at putting a man on the moon, but that’s not going to make us $$$. Today, it’s all about making $ and that’s what’s stifling innovation.