FORTUNE -- In places like Boston and New York, they could be called "wantrepreneurs," but here in Silicon Valley, they're just "wannabes."
They're the poseurs who think all it takes to be a startup founder is sauntering up to the bar at San Francisco's 21st Amendment or cracking open their laptop at Palo Alto's Coupa Café and calling themselves one. And dear god, they're everywhere -- so ubiquitous it's like a localized, vocational epidemic of World War Z-esque proportions.
I'm not talking about the hardworking folks who live and breathe their ideas, sleeping on shared office sofas, paying themselves just enough to scrape by. I mean the rest. Ask them what they do, and they'll say they're working on a startup. Ask them what the startup is, and the answer can be comical. One first-timer said he was still working on the idea, that he'd think about it, and that he'd get back to me. Well, thanks, buddy, but people don't say they're mothers or fathers before they even have kids. Full story
