I always hear the argument for capitalism "B bb BUT people won't innovate without the profit motive" WRONG
Humans want to solve problems, create, and innovate, they do not need money to motivate them. Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.
True scientists like Tesla, he didn't care about money it was about the pursuit of science.
Capitalism does not cause innovation, most new technology is found by government programs like nasa (internet, smartphones, etc)
You are completely true. The kind of people you are talking about, I think they had it in themselves to do something big in life. Such people do not need any kind of motivation. They are bold and courageous enough which acts as their motivation. I dont think so any person can make such great inventions like Microsoft, smartphone, etc in the wake of money. These people had great ideas which they implemented and money itself came to their door.