Silicon Valley is a sexy place. Not in the same way that the cities of Miami, NYC, or San Diego are sexy. The ideology of silicon valley promotes entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, self-starting, team building, meritocracies, and insomnia. OK, well not literally insomnia, but not sleeping is a badge of honor. That ideology is sexy and it’s like gravity in that It draws people into its field of influence but it also leaves a lot of bodies in it’s wake.

ReadWriteStart’s last article titled “Are You Really an Entrepreneur?” is a a great post that emphasizes some of the less sexy, but realistic elements of being an entrepreneur. Anyone interested in starting a company should check out the article. I don’t think it should discourage individuals from going after their dreams, but hopefully it will better prepare them for what is to come. This will likely improve the outcome of a new venture since proper planning can overcome many challenges faced by an entrepreneur.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the article:

• Put down “The 4-Hour Workweek”; it is a myth that the author spun to sell books (so that he could work 4 hours a week).
• There will be long periods of time when everyone around you questions your sanity, and on all normal metrics (hours worked and stress endured vs. material rewards gained), they would be right.
• The entrepreneur is an odd mix: part dreamer, part brutal realist and pragmatist.
• Entrepreneurs have to be generalists. They may know one thing very, very well. But they also have to know enough about almost everything else to occasionally do those things themselves, and have the judgment to eventually hire the right people to do those things.

And people wonder why only a few startups are successful…

Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship, readwritestart, silicon valley, startups