With all due respect, while a lot of the criticism there seems valid it does seem that there is a desire for startup school to simply act to validate the preconceptions of attendees. A fundamental error tech people make (I say this having learned the hard way from experience) is to not notice the value of what non-techies are saying, and to be honest I get that vibe here.
An example of this reinforcing itself is the idea of having a laptop for IRC channel usage, however, if no one else in the audience is on IRC what's the point? Even if there were sockets there the only people that would be on IRC are the like minded, when the whole point of the exercise is to get out of whatever bubble you're in.
The successful superficially tech founders are actually really good at both games, but bridging those two worlds is a far rarer skill than it looks, and contributes to the scarcity of successful startups, but also the rarity of good technical management in large organisations.
An example of this reinforcing itself is the idea of having a laptop for IRC channel usage, however, if no one else in the audience is on IRC what's the point? Even if there were sockets there the only people that would be on IRC are the like minded, when the whole point of the exercise is to get out of whatever bubble you're in.
The successful superficially tech founders are actually really good at both games, but bridging those two worlds is a far rarer skill than it looks, and contributes to the scarcity of successful startups, but also the rarity of good technical management in large organisations.