I talked to quite a few people at the Startup School event this weekend, and I was surprised to find that almost everyone was working on consumer startups with advertisement as a business model. One startup, Noca, is even forfeiting one of the most lucrative revenue models there is (payment processor fees) to bet on advertising.

I’m not going to criticize this approach but I honestly thought there would be more young entrepreneurs in the Valley interested in emulating companies like Salesforce or 37signals.

It is quite ironic that David Heinemeier Hansson is seen as going against the grain, when his presentation was packed with nothing but grounded advice and a healthy dose of common sense. What’s wrong with the old true and tested way of charging money for your service?

Interestingly, DHH also said that Backback (37signals’ second app after Basecamp), had to be rebranded and relaunched as a “business” application when they realized that the consumer market wasn’t really profitable.

There was maybe one theme missing from the picture though. Building a successful business takes time and hard work. A lot of time and a lot of work, so it was great to meet you all, I have to go back to work now.