Earlier quoted context omitted.
But... Correlation != Causation. I think the causal effect works more like this: People in the startup scene (and particularly in SV) are unlikely to pick PHP as the language of their choice -> Not many PHP companies started by experienced entrepreneurs -> Lower quality. The fact that PHP is correlated with lower startup quality (whatever that means) has probably nothing to do with PHP itself. If you forced all the s…
I was with you until the last line. Forcing really smart people to take a project in a direction they are fundamentally opposed to is suboptimal, at least.
I think you misinterpreted was I was trying to say. I didn't mean you should force people to use PHP (obviously that would be suboptimal) , but that the choice of technology has generally little to do with startup success. People who can execute well in terms of distribution and product can do so using any technology. It's just that this group of people is less likely to choose PHP for their projects because of cultural circumstances (SV, press, peers, etc).