A man has successfully developed a scheme for selling the concept of startup life. He advertises an incubator in which his network will shape and form your life as you move forward with entrepreneurship. Through the process of forming my own startup from this incubator, I ran into several hurdles that I needed to clean up with him. After a few beers nonchalantly discussing the dilemmas I was running into, he expressed that he would help us in whatever way was possible.

Therefore, going into a meeting with this man several weeks later, I was confident and excited about the future and how he would advise us in steering the startup to successful growth. Bewilderingly, I came out of that same meeting questioning that man’s ethics as I discovered a ruthless agenda.

I started the entrepreneurial incubator with untamed hope and optimism in the pursuit of the American Dream, but I now find myself in a nightmarish web of politics and deception that have me treading lightly in all directions.

I have discovered that the American Dream is a construct from which the capitalist fiber of the US economy is woven. If its citizens were to doubt the integrity of the American Dream, the US would quickly lose its economic power on the global scene. The strength of the US is in its ability to shape its economy rapidly and uniformly with little elasticity. Just like a unit of currency promises an intangible value, the macroeconomy of the US promises an intangible good, financial success.

When abuses to the system result in exploitation and unregulated monopoly, a threat to the American Dream is born. Depending on the extent of the abuse, the American Dream can quickly rot into an American Nightmare. I have tasted the molding of the American Dream, and it is foul. Greed and fear become the dominant players at the table. As an honest and loyal business man, negotiating tactics in a game without moral boundaries creates an exceptionally challenging environment.

I have been burned. People I believed were inherently genuine in their actions and words, have surfaced as corrupted hacks. It is worth noting, however, that these same people were those who inspired me to pursue my new life. From a dark and helpless place, maybe something beautiful can be born.