I think it's perfectly reasonable to suspect that some proportion of people do not conform to Maslow's model.

Wikipedia says that a large study "found little evidence for the ranking of needs Maslow described, or even for the existence of a definite hierarchy at all":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs (scroll to "Criticism" section)

Part of being a (successful) human is making sacrifices to get the things you want the most, and this contradicts an established hierarchy of needs like that supposed by Maslow.

I suppose a great example would be people who participate in dangerous sports - they sacrifice their safety in the short term to achieve the success, money and respect they aspire to.

This made me feel special as an entrepreneur and it's an interesting, entertaining read, but ai must call bunk on this one.

Entrepreneurs are a special breed but we don't defy all the rules. We still need to go in order. We do sacrifice our health and living conditions at times but by choice. If you have the option to make a conscious decision to live on Ramen for a year then you've already gotten up the pyramid some ways. Those who are barely meeting this level of needs without choosing to are not entrepreneurs. They have a long way to go.

We don't sacrifice Safety without already achieving it too. First we secure employment and everything that comes with safety, then we become dissatisfied with the situation and, again, make a conscious decision to throw ourselves into the great unknown. We cannot make this choice without having achieved this level first.

These last 3 are tricky but the rules still apply to us. No one is an island and so if our personal relationships suffer during the course of starting our businesses that doesn't mean that this level comes at a different time for us, has a different importance or isn't necessary. First off, we have to have relationships first before they suffer. Secondly, we gain and absolutely need relationships with customers, prospects, vendors, partners, employees etc. this is a case where the hierarchy isn't flipped on its head but just takes on different terms.

Then self-esteem and self-actualization go in order as we need the rest in order to get there.

Sorry to be so long-winded but I just disagree with the premise that the hierarchy applies differently to entrepreneurs. It just doesn't. Nothing against the author, I could definitely understand his reasoning and think this is something young (young as in just beginning, not age) entrepreneurs could read and be inspired by and feel special.

I guess I'm just in one of those cynical moods today or something.

No, you're not just being cynical, and it is in fact crazy to pretend that entrepreneurs don't generally need the same things that everyone else needs.

The OP is apparently anxious to pretend that the average Ramen-eating couch-surfing startup hacker is in danger of actually starving to death, freezing to death, or pining away for lack of human contact. Whereas most of them are just slumming, living extremely cheaply on purpose as part of their chosen lifestyle. There's a difference between an athlete on a strict diet and a desperate, starving person who is wasting away.

And while history does contain apparent examples of people who desperately invented new businesses as their only alternative to starvation, when you ask these people what motivated them to start their businesses they tend to say "starvation!"

Of course, I'm not going to argue that entrepreneurial behavior is actually well-explained by Maslow's hierarchy because, as noted elsewhere in this thread, it's not clear that Maslow's hierarchy is good at explaining anyone's behavior.

Yes, I meant to mention that last bit about it not being good at explaining anyone's behavior. The hierarchy is like a generalization that can apply very generally to anyone or anything. It reminds me of explanations of instinctual behavior in animals.

In any case it's great fodder for newbies to entrepreneurship to feel warm and fuzzy by reading. We always need to organize and explain everything so it only makes sense that someone would write this even if it ends up being wrong.