That's the point, you are not supposed to start anything on "hope" - you have to actually believe and perceive a value in the market.
In some cases people are wrong or even crazy, but fundamentally I don't meet many 20 somethings with both the conviction that they are right, the organization skills to do the logistics, and the wisdom to not jump at pointless things.
I certainly didn't do it right when I tried to start a company at 19.
I think people taking shots at VC are misperceiving what all parties bring to the table.
VC provides capital and connections.
Young founders provide ideas and work.
VC can't / doesn't want to have ideas or do the work, but young founders can't access capital and connections.
To speak to up thread, most people who have been working in industry for 20+ years limit their aspirations to what they believe is possible, which is far shy of what's actually possible. Thus, it takes a young/dumb/crazy enough founder to even take the shot.
Furthermore, by scaling and making multiple bets, VC packages risk into more palatable ranges for investors.
We can point at and decry excesses and metastisized business models on both VC and founder sides (e.g. SoftBank Vision Fund and Theranos), but the underlying bargain is fair and effective.
In some cases people are wrong or even crazy, but fundamentally I don't meet many 20 somethings with both the conviction that they are right, the organization skills to do the logistics, and the wisdom to not jump at pointless things.
I certainly didn't do it right when I tried to start a company at 19.