So if I eat rice and beans[1] to save money while working on a startup, does that mean I'm trying to emulate the lifestyle of an Andean peasant? The article specifically says it's not about people who live in vans involuntarily, and it explicitly lists reasons for doing it that have nothing to do with saving money ("travel the country", "maintain a lifestyle of minimalism and self-reliance"). Even if your goal is just to save money, why should that involve doing what poor people do, or emulating their lifestyle? Why would you move to the shitty part of town, where you have to deal with higher rates of street violence, vandalism, theft, etc?

[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/ramenprofitable.html#f1n