Not given the ethical cost required to get anywhere near there, no.
Though "Do you want to" makes it sound like it's as much of a choice as "Do you want to move to another country?" (Which is itself a rather restricted thing)
Is 37signals really a "lifestyle company"? Sure the founders are not billionaires, but I think with the (what I assume are) 8-figure revenues they must have, they'd be considered more than "lifestyle".
I dont think there would be any difference in my lifestyle between 50 million in the bank and 5 billion. It would be cool to be able to donate hundreds of millions of dollars to charities though.
The 37signals people probably got where they are via long stretches of living the consultant life style (since they were consultants). Before things scaled, they weren't working Ferris-Four-Hour-Work-Weeks but grinding for clients.
I've been thinking about the next company I try to build a lot lately. I don't really care about being a billionaire nor do I care about emulating Zuckerberg...it's too late for me to get admitted to Harvard, much less drop out. But winding up with a fuck-you money sized exit would be nice and what I've come to believe is that it's not appreciably more work to build a $2 billion company than a $2 million one. I'll probably have to work my ass off either way, and there's still a lot of risk that either winds up a $0 million company in the end.
People can work decades to build a company that makes them a multi-thousandaire. Scale comes from businesses that scale not in proportion to hard work.
> Or something like patio (kalzumeus.com)... solopreneur. I think I read he works 10 hours a week but stills makes an impact?
Let's not give in to SV newspeak where running a business means "making an impact".
I don't think many people will outright say on the record they want to be billionaires on here because then it looks like they're just in it for the money. There's a stigma against wanting to be rich in this industry over just 'passionate'.
I wonder how many people say internally to themselves they want to be like one of those people, but are willing to put in the work to get there. How many people are really willing to make the sacrifices to be at the top.
I do want and I;m putting the time, effort and thinking into it to be a billionaire. At the same time I'm absolutely enjoying the route towards it and really like how I spend most of my time just working in the right direction.
> Do you want to be a billionaire?
Yes but it will never happen. I will never even see 1 million, unless economic collapse starting in Greece causes rampant inflation here.
IMHO:
Reaching a level of success can still be "suffering" if that success is built on the suffering of others.
So, while yes I'd certainly love to be a Billionaire in theory, I have a hard time thinking of how that could come about in a way that wouldn't compound and produce more suffering in the world. My own, and others'.