The group at highlight midwest did not represent all start ups in the midwest but it did bring together a group of people looking to make change, grow a larger community and build out the foundation for future ideas and big thinkers.

I have big dreams but more importantly I have big dreams for my children and my children’s children. I’m investing my time and energy in the future.

Love the conversation. Having an exchange like this can only help move the needle. I generally agree with your premise… if you aim too high you may miss, but hopefully you’ll still hit quite a bit higher than if you had aimed low in the first place.

I felt that there was a real altruistic feel to most of the responses at the unconference – but reminding people to look up and out of their niche is not a bad thing.

I generally disagree that “big companies” are automatically “corporate” and thereby have the symptoms that we usually associate with the “corporate world”. It comes down to whether or not they allow their culture to fall into that stereptype. It also depends on how you define a “big company”. I aspire to have a “big company” when you consider revenues – not workforce…

Peace,

jonno

Also, I don’t want to be bought out by Google. I would love for Google to WANT to buy us out, though. If they did, it would mean we are doing something right. However, if we are doing something right, why sell out? Why not keep doing things right, getting bigger, stronger, and better?

Lastly, I don’t want to have a large company. Large companies are inherently ‘Corporate’ (even google). I hate the corporate world, why would I want to add to it?

Three men come to mind when I read the “anti-high-lifestyle” comments: Gary Vaynerchuk, Phillip Merrick & Guy Kawasaki. All of these men definitely work to make lots of money. In turn, their efforts support who knows how many other companies, employees, charities and personal interests like sports teams who they support. If you make more, you can do more with it, for your family, your neighborhood, city, etc. And just because you drive a fancy car, or sit in box seats, or sport a watch that costs more than some of us make in a month doesn’t mean you are a rootin-tootin-snortin, womanizing playa! Maybe you just like nice things. If you have the money (as in cash you earned, not spending other people’s investments frivolously) then I don’t see why you shouldn’t live like you want to, surrounded by the things that make you happy.

Admittedly, I am from Texas, where “showy” is the way many people live, whether it’s driving a Hummer around Dallas, sporting a fur coat in Houston when it’s not even that cold, wearing huge hair & rhinestones to some charity gala, or wearing a belt buckle big as a face on your giant ranch filled with cows and things. I don’t think what Banky questions means a lack of interest in basic, decent values. This question resonated for me – because I DO want to do and reach for more, but I limit myself not just in business but in other ways.

This has turned into a really interesting conversation with different viewpoints, so thanks for this, Banky! The most important question for me now is, what do WE as the midwest collective, or I, individually, do about it?

I don’t think that’s a fair characterization of my argument.

Thanks for posting your thoughts. Perhaps, the quality of life and cost of living is so great that we don’t need the type of money needed in silicon valley to survive.

But I’ll quote from the Silverzippo who wrote:

“I don’t think it is coincidence that not many larger companies are headquartered here. The ones I’ve been involved with who have had leaders with modest goals have also achieved modest success or worse, destroyed their companies. I think that is a different kind of conceit and/or arrogance and not necessarily a good thing–the perception that being “realistic” is somehow better.”

That comment made me think about my favorite quote from Dostoevksy and it rings true to my arguement:

“It was not only that I could not become spiteful, I did not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect. Now, I am living out my life in my corner, taunting myself with the spiteful and useless consolation that an intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it is only the fool who becomes anything.”

We ARE reaching for the stars here in the Midwest. The difference is that our stars are in a different galaxy from the ones you’ve described. I don’t think that success can always be measured in dollars. I think that, for many of us, success will come in knowing that we are making a difference in the world of social media and new technology. If that comes along with a nice fat check, awesome. If it doesn’t, well, we’ll just be content with a job well done and a safe, comfortable place to raise our families.