There’s actually quite a few options for wannabe-founders looking to live vicariously through this current startup explosion:
A) You can read TechCrunch and hash out whether or not a product will succeed in the comments section.
B) You can hang out on Hacker News, lauding people who have dropped out of school to build a startup and voting up articles that basically amount to entrepreneurship porn.
C) You can engage in the intense debates surrounding questions about startups on Quora, despite having no startup experience yourself.
D) And if you’re really committed, you can go sit at The Creamery in San Francisco or Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto and pretend to be working on a stealth project, when all you’re really doing is surfing Twitter.
Or E) you could play Startup Fever, The Board Game.
A Kickstarter project created by Louis Perrochon, Startup Fever is, yes, a board game about running a startup (#bubblealert). Like a Silicon Valley version of Settlers of Catan, Startup Fever allows players to build imaginary product, hire and poach imaginary employees, gain imaginary users and generate imaginary revenue.
Perrochon is currently looking for $10,111 to improve the artwork and look and feel of the game, which truthfully leaves much to be desired. Thus far he’s raised $2,390. Backers who pledge beyond $50 will receive an actual copy of the game and backers beyond $60 will receive the Venture Capital Edition complete with six lawyers, 30 company shares, and a limited edition rules addendum.
If you pledge $500 and over (and live within 50 miles of Palo Alto) you’ll also get the personal attendance of Perrochon at your game evening where Perrochon will “personally introduce you and your guests to the game and answer any questions you might have.” In addition, Perrochon will randomly bring a 4.5kg Toblerone over to your house (bizarre, I know).
Those that have the cash might want to splurge on the CEO-Level and have Perrochon explain things, as playing the game, which sure includes a lot of multi-colored playing pieces, actually seems just as complicated as running an actual startup.
So maybe you should just do that, instead.