Completely agree with the premise here. I think some of the causes of this are worth exploring/understanding. I believe part of it is just about getting laid. Startups are cool right now, they are like the modern band. You can create a sense of "...maybe this guy is the next Zuck?" with girls fairly easily. Another part of it is that there are a lot of people in the startup community that prey on others and/or have no clue. I wasted a shameful amount of time on what I've heard YC folks refers to as "playing house" because that's what people in my community were encouraging, and I didn't know any better. Only when I stopped going to meetups and searching for validation elsewhere was I able to truly begin building a business by focusing exclusively on solving problems for clients.