@aral OK effectively sadly no actual solutions yet outside of the startup play :(
While criticism of the current system is important, I feel it's largely toothless if valid solutions outside it don't exist.
I wonder if something like the startup play, but incubated by non-profit orgs would work. Basically what NLNet is doing but without being as task-oriented and more of a long-term incubation until profitability. (I've already read your post about your NLNet troubles btw)