Am I missing something, or was the authors lack of free time due entirely to the fact that he was commuting 4 hours, and not at all related to working at a startup like the title suggests?
Yes 4 hours contributed significantly to the fact that I didn't have time to work on side projects. But I would have been equally happy if I had peers with whom I could discuss stuff and learn new things. The source or learning is not important. It can be side projects, it can be your peers. Learning is what matters. And working at an early stage startup meant I was the only one working on iOS stuff. Hence the title.