But I would argue that at a job, the worst you can do is lose years of your life, go deeply into debt, lose the respect of your peers, burn out, and get pidgeon

But I would argue that at a job, the worst you can do is lose years of your life, go deeply into debt, lose the respect of your peers, burn out, and get pidgeonholed into a career-path that makes getting a job at the level you would want in a different career-path very difficult. I'm not saying a startup is risk-free, but I wish people would quit treating employment as risk-free too. It just seems like you have a lot more control over your situation (picking your cofounders, picking your investors) than you do as an employee (who can be fired on a whim). You can work has as an employee and not have anything to show for it. If you work hard as a founder, customers are much less likely to 'fire' you at random.