I always have heard this motto from many entrepeneurs: do what you are passionate about, do not do anything just for money!
I agree on the money as a mean of interchange, but nevertheless I consider that as an important factor.
What do you advise/think, IT entrepeneurs: focus on market/money or just what you are passionate about?
Find that point where the two collide... money and your technical passion... but don't forget that managing it all is outside both realms.
Don't do something you don't want to do just for money. If it's something you want to do, take the money.
If very large bags of money are involved, preferably with a large dollar sign printed on the sides, that overrules everything else.
Unless you have a lot of capitol to back your ideas I think the money has to be more the motivator. But you need to find a good mix between money and market. You can come up with this great idea but the market won't support it OR come up with a booming market but no great idea to build for the market. In any application I build I look at the audience of the utility/website, etc and see if there is already a utility doing something similar and I see how well it works, sells, etc and that will usually tell me if the market is saturated with tools or if my idea could sell as well. Don't do just what your passionate for you need a good mix. You can always do the passionate ideas as the side job while your creating solid apps that will make you the money.
You're looking at this as a black/white issue, when it's really a grey issue. I would argue that for a business, you should do something you're passionate about, but also has a reasonable expectation of profitability.
Money is not the main objective, but it is necessary to keep your options available.
A whole lot of people followed their passion without a viable profit-making model during the .com bubble. As a result, the Internet is littered with sites that raised twenty million dollars, built something cool, and then vanished due to lack of revenue.
If people are putting money into a new business, it's invariably to get money out. If you don't make a profit, they eventually stop funding your hobby.
There's always a happy medium. I think it's important to do what you are passionate about... but still be able to put food on the table. If your passion means living with rat traps and letting your children starve, then you may have suck it up and find something you are less passionate about. Or, maybe do what you are passionate about during the day but deliver pizzas at night to compensate. However, I think it is fine if doing what you love means buying a beater car and taking stay-cations instead of going to places with swim up bars.
Startups, in general, take up all your waking time, are high-stress, require reasonably high-quality and creative work, and offer no guaranteed return. For something like that, most people need all the motivation they can get, and large quantities of money (not guaranteed) aren't enough. If you're not passionate about what you're doing, you're likely to fail, and almost certain to be miserable.
That being said, if what you're passionate about isn't something people will pay for, leave it as a hobby.
Everyone has their break even point. Lets face it, if someone is offering you 1 billion dollars to do something despicable you very well might do it.
So, in the end it is all about what you value.
When it comes to ME:
I personally believe that money is important, it provides security and sense of mind. I also find it very hard to sleep well at night if I am sure that my job is secure. This said, I couldn't bring myself to get up in the morning if I loathed what I was doing. You also don't have to do something for the rest of your life. It it propells you towards a larger goal taking a less then desireable job for a year or two might be a means to an end.
So, saying "don't do anything for money" is a little myopic. In my oh so humble opinion.