Nice resume. Now about your lack of startups...

Good article in favor of buy-vs-build and how it’s getting mixed with hiring-vs-acquiring. Gist of the article is the merger of the following three quotes:

1) “Like everything else in technology, the cost of starting a startup has decreased dramatically. Now it's so low that it has disappeared into the noise.” PLUS

2) “When companies buy startups, they're effectively fusing recruiting and product development.” EQUALS

3) “companies that acquire technology will gradually learn to go after earlier stage startups. They won't necessarily buy them outright. The solution may be some hybrid of investment and acquisition”

It's an intriguing article and makes for some interesting food for thought if you interpolate beyond where the author has taken it. For example:

• If an ever increasing number of undergrads start their own companies, how long before it's just *expected*? Part of the min requirements? It wasn't so long ago that "I wrote and shipped an indie game" or "I ran a fan site for an MMO" was an attention-getter on a resume. Today, standard fare. Maybe one day you can't even apply for that MBA program without at least 1 startup under your belt.
• If it becomes something that everyone is doing, then the min bar will be starting a SUCCESSFUL startup. Of course, those people may not want to be hired or acquired at all. Makes for a nice feedback loop there.

Hmm...

(Of course, while the cost of starting web-based businesses may be dropping, there are still many industries that are pretty capital-intensive, in which case this may apply less.