The article seems like a lot of self-flagellation over something that couldn’t have turned out differently. It’s telling that he spends a lot of time talking about Y Combinator and barely mentions the Apple Watch.
It’s a common feature of brainwashing cults that you’re made to criticise yourself and explain your failings in terms of how you strayed from the cult’s teachings. In the real world, Pebble had a good early-adopter product and was then crushed by Apple entering their market. But this explanation is obviously forbidden in Y-Combinator-thought, where I guess failure means you fell short morally and don’t deserve Paul Graham’s love.
It reminds me of crypto bros going on about “grindset” and “WAGMI”. People will believe anything, if it tells them life isn’t a lottery where the previous winners hold most of the tickets.
