Before Tech became the dominant industry, jobs like investment banking were generally viewed as the best expected-value career trade to make out of school in terms of money, training, and accrued social capital. As tech began to rise in the 2000s-early 2010s, backed by cultural tenants of weirdness (what the smartest people do on weekends), meritocracy, and change for good, doing investment banking within many younger circles went from high status to a specific type of low status which is “this shows you’re smart but not that interesting.” It was clearly high EV but lacked a form of soul.Despite this, within finance the status decline wasn't absolute. Firms like Jane Street did a great job of focusing on a certain type of person, aesthetic, and culture that targeted those selecting for intellect and difficulty over a more generic path, leading to a shift in where and how people entered the finance industry, as well as retention within the industry.1The mainstream venture-backed startup path is undergoing the same transition.To the prior point, this is not about all founders. It is not about the person who has been doing research on something their whole life and tries to solve previously unsolvable science. It is not about the person who cares deeply about how their technology is used (in reality, not just in a deck). It is not about the person who treats running a company as a serious responsibility rather than a right they fell into. These people exist and they will continue to exist and inspire many daily.2This is about the path itself becoming the default.3 It is about a world in which starting a venture-backed company has become the thing you do when you’re ambitious and want to be perceived as smart, in the same way that going into banking used to be the thing you did when you were ambitious and wanted to be perceived as successful. When a path becomes the default, it no longer says something meaningful about you, but instead starts being an optimization probl