Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?
Absolutely, I've had friends with limited business or tech background pump hard-earned savings into crazy tech startup ideas, precisely because they've read too many of these success stories.<p>I've been guilty of not trying to talk sense to some of them, so much so that there's one particular marriage break-up related to a stupid tech start up blowing a couples life savings that still haunts me.<p>And for the record, here's some of the ideas that went down in flames...<p>- An application like a geo-fenced Wikipedia for Android devices, except without any content worth using and charging 5 bucks/month for it.<p>- A Flickr/Google maps mash up, again charging customers for a product that's executed much better, and free, elsewhere.<p>- A health start-up targeting a condition that affects 1 in 100k people, usually quite mildly and benignly, but involves surgically implanting a device onto a nerve in the jaw.<p>- A SaaS company, Salmon as a Service, providing next day delivery of fresh salmon, when the same thing can be bought at the local store.