IMO, you're right about the romanticism, but it'll be hard to tell anything from this survey because of the tendency for nerds to overthink! Tell you what: I t

IMO, you're right about the romanticism, but it'll be hard to tell anything from this survey because of the tendency for nerds to overthink! Tell you what: I tried to go with my gut feeling on every question. I am very risk-averse, but the idea of gaining money doesn't mean that much to me. Winning $100 vs $1000 isn't that emotional for me. Oh, sure, I'd like $1000 but I don't even care about $100. I thought about scaling the numbers up til they mattered to me, and decided I'd almost always take the sure thing because I could turn that money into a higher amount thru investing it in expanding my product. But I would gladly pay $250 instead of even a slight risk of losing $1000. (Or whatever the numbers were I've forgotten already!) IRL, I've bought a new car because I'd rather pay a couple grand more than have the uncertainty of potential repair bills, etc. Clearly I hate negative unknowns. That risk aversion has clearly influenced the type of "startup life" I've chosen. My products are "boring," but quite profitable. No funding, no 80 hour weeks, no sleeping under the desk, and no potential to be gobbled up by Google, either. Nevertheless, I find this far less risky than having a job, because nobody can fire me from my own company! Plus, I'm not miserable because people are always screwing with my work. That said, I think part of the special startup mindset is similar to the people who will bet more on dice they've rolled than dice rolled by someone else... whether a startup is acquired feels like something they can control, however irrationally. Maybe you could ask what people believe is the average chance of acquisition for a startup in general, and what they believe their chance is?