It's true that celebrity entrepreneurs have a decided advantage in terms of [ease of getting press, money to hire people, making connections, etc].
However, I think most of those things can actually be replicated (though admittedly not as easily) by the unknown coffee shop entrepreneur. Yes, you have to hustle your ass off. But it works, and most people are very sympathetic to the cause of the underdog entrepreneur and will go out of their way to help.
Additionally, "guys in coffee shops" have the advantage of being extremely agile, can turn their startup on a dime, and can do whatever they want.
This "whatever they want" thing is kind of important -- what I'm saying is "they can do mildly shady stuff". For example, krausejj could have chosen to populate his map with a bunch of fake people and posts, or unknown airbnb type startups can spam craigslist users. I'm not saying it won't bite you in the end, but airbnb seems to be doing great, and whether it was a calculated decision on their part/they were aware of the activities of the third party the engaged or not, I think they're winning now.
Each entrepreneur has different challenges, I'm not saying one isn't easier than the other, but Davids can absolutely wreck Goliaths in some arenas. They just need to embrace a different bag of tricks.
I'm a guy in a coffee shop -- and for now, I wouldn't have it any other way.
However, I think most of those things can actually be replicated (though admittedly not as easily) by the unknown coffee shop entrepreneur. Yes, you have to hustle your ass off. But it works, and most people are very sympathetic to the cause of the underdog entrepreneur and will go out of their way to help.
Additionally, "guys in coffee shops" have the advantage of being extremely agile, can turn their startup on a dime, and can do whatever they want.
This "whatever they want" thing is kind of important -- what I'm saying is "they can do mildly shady stuff". For example, krausejj could have chosen to populate his map with a bunch of fake people and posts, or unknown airbnb type startups can spam craigslist users. I'm not saying it won't bite you in the end, but airbnb seems to be doing great, and whether it was a calculated decision on their part/they were aware of the activities of the third party the engaged or not, I think they're winning now.
Each entrepreneur has different challenges, I'm not saying one isn't easier than the other, but Davids can absolutely wreck Goliaths in some arenas. They just need to embrace a different bag of tricks.
I'm a guy in a coffee shop -- and for now, I wouldn't have it any other way.