Long story short, I used to be excited about the possibility of building something and earning significant money from it.

I used to think a couple people making a couple million or even up to a billion is cool in some way.

Building a startup seemed like a vehicle of social mobility. 2 or 3 million dollars is about the range where I can buy a really nice house, set up a basic farm and my to-be-born kids could choose education paths based solely on their interests.

That's a lot more money than I or my parents ever had, but I honestly don't want more.

If I sold a business in that range it would mean I built something that provided a dozen or so people with a decent livelihood in Central Europe, where I live.

And boy, I was pumped about the idea. And I was ambitious, and still am.

But seeing valuation rounds of tens of billions and now a net worth of a trillion dollars - million times million - it just feels like the game is eternally uneven and I can't in good conscience support these ideas anymore.

I am the founder of a company. I want it to succeed. I don't want to become a billionaire, but I want the people that help me build it to have similar successes to mine.

Is the founder's risk really that heroic or most of us in the "can found a startup" caste can usually go back to jobs that already pay well over average?

If we succeed, I don't want my car or house to be 10x more expensive than of those people who joined me first.

There's something seriously rotten about these numbers billions. Something so deeply flawed I can't even put a word on it.

Given the excess of talent and opportunity we have, and I'm aware I have both, our primary focus should be on giving something back to society. Those around us.

Anyone else feeling the same way?

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