The "PHP is dead" meme is the ultimate filter. It keeps the trend-chasers away while the pragmatic developers are busy shipping profitable products. The speed from laravel new to a production-ready MVP is still the gold standard for solo founders. When you're trying to validate a business idea, you need a framework that handles the boring stuff like middleware and queues so you can focus on the features that actually generate revenue. Stability isn't boring; it's a competitive advantage.