You can either create a derivative or something very sloppy.

We don't have a legal non-GPL Blender alternative, with the same level of functionality, and as good as it, do we?
Blender uses the GPL so that it stays free and open source software. Copyright is owned by contributors and this reassures everyone that the program will stay free.

Of course, you may point out the Blender Foundation is a non-profit, not a company and surely not a start-up. But, in most instances, software freedom is not the way to go when maximizing profit and hasn't been for decades.
When software freedom, not money, is the goal, free software licenses make sense. And while I'm not a huge fan of copyleft, sometimes the GPL makes sense.