Business insight INSIGHT #2: GOVERNMENT GRANTS MIGHT BE MAKING YOUR STARTUP WEAKER Korea's government has invested heavily in its startup ecosystem through non-dilutive grants, and a lot of founders in the room had taken them. Ethan wasn't here to shame anyone for that -- but he was willing to name the downside that most people won't. "I think that kind of dilutes the desperation that some startups should have." His argument: desperation, when channeled correctly, is rocket fuel. When a startup has enough runway from a government grant to survive mediocrity, some of them do exactly that. They settle. They don't make the hard pivots. They don't push hard enough on distribution. They optimize for survival instead of breakout. Eric echoed this with a passage from the book, Same as Ever , by Morgan Housel: a tree planted in an open field with all the sunshine and space it needs grows quickly -- but its wood is weak and porous. A tree in a dense forest, competing for light and nutrients, grows slowly -- but its wood is dense, hard, and can last a thousand years. The point isn't that grants are bad. The point is that comfort can be dangerous when your goal is to build something that changes the world. Real startups run on urgency.