Yes, I've been thinking a lot lately about how venture capital, and the ridiculous requirements it imposes on young businesses, has effectively killed what used to be Startup culture. Hopefully we'll see some kind of turning-of-the-page—perhaps a bit like the way Indie music arose in the 80s/90s to kill a stagnating and completely overbearing "music industry"—whereby founders get back to building the products they want to build, rather than just building what they can get VCs to fund. Not likely, perhaps, but we'll see. There are signs of interesting work happening on more focused, efficient, and even "small-data" Gen AI approaches, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility (in the ML/"AI" sphere, at least). There are also loads for fascinating and even quite beautiful artisanal small-business out there (design, fashion, furniture and other analog devices) to stand as inspiring examples. Fingers crossed...

But, on the whole, couldn't agree more with the overall message of your article.