Yes; I think his statement is more trying to describe his own inability to separate the wheat from the chaff; Most startups do fail and he can't differentiate between the good ones and bad ones; And after all, whatsapp was once a startup was it not? I don't believe he is putting down startup founders by his comment.
Not OP mistake, but the title is click-baity as hell. Yes, it is a direct quote, but that was mentioned in passing to a question of whether he'd invest in any.
"In which direction does WhatsApp develop? Which new features are you going to introduce?
We usually do not announce what we are building right now or plan to launch in the future. That is our policy. But we have a simple task to make our product easy to use and fast. That sounds easy, but it is rather difficult to implement."
Well with that last update WhatsApp became harder to use.
Jan sounds like a very humble guy, really focused and passionate about doing good work. I especially like the comment about sitting with a smart face, I wonder where that expression came from.