Founding Stories Are Myths

OP didn't suggest that though. Many people have a black-and-white ideal in which entrepreneurship means making the next Facebook or Amazon and end up aiming too high for their own means.

The author is criticizing a genre of narrative that I like to call "career porn." Consider the similarities between "how I started this company" type stories and actual porn:

* It depicts something everyone fantasizes about and offers a quick if ultimately unsatisfying release. Who doesn't imagine themselves building something amazing and being idolized by magazines and the general public?

* It happens in an unrealistic sort of magical fairy land, often in the founder's own hazy, romanticized recollections of their past.

* It only shows beautiful companies/people. You don't need to found a space exploration company to be happy just like you don't need to be with a model.

* It offers no real guidance for how to achieve what it's depicting, leaving viewers confused at best and frustrated at worst. This article touches on the fact that people seem to think all they need is an idea, when that's not what it takes.

* It's most popular with those who are either frustrated with their careers/romantic lives, or are otherwise trying to satisfy a need they feel isn't being met. This one is a little shaky because plenty of people enjoy actual porn in healthy ways, so forgive me for the stretch.

The comparisons go on and on. How healthy your relationship with each is depends on how much exposure to the realities of each field you have had and how mature you are as a person/profession.

Either someone told me, or I read somewhere in a book, about how these things are called "business lies" and that it is supposedly OK to do in the name of making money

No harm no foul if everyone feels better about themselves right?

/s

It is a good read.

You read it. You feel about it. You formulate an opinion (pro/con). You learn something. You doubt something.

That’s what a good read is.

I don't think it's fair to use that one small piece of Netflix lore as the counter example to the point of the article. I'd categorize Reed Hastings as having one of the more long-term views/strategies in tech and business in general, and he would be the first to say that Netflix became what it has become not because of the lightbulb moment, but because of the long slog they've endured to get where they are. Using that Netflix example comes across as clickbaity.

Not to mention, that particular Netflix myth has nothing to do with the importance of having a lightbulb moment. The point is to provide a north star for the company about the importance of always keeping the customer/user experience top of mind. By charging late fees that exceeded the value of a video, Blockbuster had lost sight of the customer experience, which contributed to Blockbuster's downfall. Meanwhile, maintaining its intense focus on the customer experience helped Netflix navigate what was an impressive shift from mailing DVDs to streaming video online.