1) not all people who are mean are mean all of the time;

2) perhaps those intelligent enough to succeed at their businesses are able to make strategic decisions about when to display, or not display, their meanness;

3) in a capitalist society is it really possible for a company to get ahead in the long run (and maybe the short run) without some degree of willingness to go to war with one's competition - doesn't that seem like the heart of capitalism to anyone, or is it just me? "If they want it, they will come" but unless you have a monopoly you will need to incentivize them into picking you, and nice doesn't sell products (mostly)

There's some bits about the article itself and how it's written I don't find endearing, but other commenters have basically said what I think already there. Those are the three main points I find missing from consideration in the piece.

In addition he essentially assumes karma, just specific karma as in "if you're the founder of a start-up well then by god the universe will help you!" Which I find generally a nice thought and unrealistic practice - although I admit I like to believe in karma or sorts of karma as well. It's just particularly ridiculous in this author as apparently if you are founding a start up, then you deserve your karma, unlike all those nice mothers with dead sons or good people to whom bad things Happen that we hear about all the time (so much, platitudinously).

This would be better framed as a call to niceness but it currently does a poor job of that.