living off your startup: it has revenue, it's being used to cover all it's own costs, including paying you some money which you are then using for food, shelter

living off your startup: it has revenue, it's being used to cover all it's own costs, including paying you some money which you are then using for food, shelter, utilities, etc. startup living off you: it's costs are being paid out of an account that you personally funded. it is not in the black yet. you/startup living off investors: it's costs (including possibly paying you a "salary" of some kind) come out of an account which was funded by investors -- other people's money, not from you and not from customers